Influential Black Tech Innovators Over the Years

In celebration of Black History Month, we wanted to shine a spotlight on a few Black Innovators that have made a drastic impact upon the tech space that you may not be aware of.

Kimberly Bryant (1967) Founder of Black Girls CODE.

African-American women make up less than 3% of the tech industry workforce. Bryant experienced during her time in education and in the workplace that there is little representation of Black Women and they have to jump over more hurdles to gain similar experiences to non Black men and women, which her daughters experience has mirrored years later. To actively change this narrative, Bryant created Black Girls Code to improve these startling statistics. Since 2011, she has been voted one of the 25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology by Business Insider.

Clarence "Skip" Ellis (1943-2014) Created Technology still used today in Google Documents.

Clarence was the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. in computer science. He had a long career at major tech companies like Bell Telephone Laboratories, IBM, Xerox, and more. Ellis was a pioneer in this field of operational transformation. Furthermore, he also created Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), which is used in applications today like Google Docs.

Katherine Johnson (1918-2020), Mary Jackson (1921-2005), and Dorothy Vaughan (1910-2008) 3 Pioneering Black women in tech, involved with NASA's Human Computer.

Between 1940-1950's they worked as a "human computer" and calculated the flight path for the first NASA mission to space. Johnson's calculations were essential to the success of many early missions, like Project Mercury and Apollo 11 - She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.

Jackson became the first African American women engineer at Nasa in 1958.

After years of not being recognised for her achievements, in 1949 Vaughan became the first African American female manager at NACA (later known as NASA).

*There were many more women involved in this, however these three women arguably had the greatest impact on its creation.

Roy Clay Sr. (1929) The Godfather of Silicon Valley.

From being the first African American to graduate St. Louis University in 1951 (when there was no such subject as computer science so he had to study Mathematics), he would later work on writing software that demonstrated the spread of radiation after an atomic explosion. He would eventually lead the team that engineered HP’s entrance into the computer market. At HP, he created programs to help Africa Americans get into Silicon Valley. For over 35 years Clay was involved in serving his community from local politics to being the first African American on the Palo Alto City Council.

Marc Regis Hannah (1956) Electrical engineer and computer graphic design used in films

He was an electrical engineer and computer graphics designer in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

His contributions to the intersection of graphic design and science have not only elevated the industry's standards but also opened new possibilities for how design can influence and shape our understanding of complex scientific concepts. He developed the 3-D special effects systems for scientific research and aerospace biotech engineering labs.

Gerald A. Lawson (1940-2011) Founding Father of Modern Gaming

Hailed 'one of the founding fathers of modern gaming,' Lawson designed the first console using swappable video cartridges. Not only that, he went on to launch the first Black-owned video game development company named Video Soft, that created software for the Atari 2600.

Marian R. Croak (1955) Innovator in the Voice and Data Communication sector.

Croak is best known in the voice and data communication sector. Following her prediction that the internet would take over from wire technology, her thirty year career and passion for technology was born. She was instrumental in the creating the technology to allow people

to send text-based donations to charities and the Voice over Internet Protocols (VoIP). This technology has lead to the creation of Skype and Zoom.

Last year, Croak became the first Black women to be inducted into the National Investors Hall of Fame. Currently, Croak is a VP at Google, working on a variety of projects including making public WIFI accessible in India.

John Henry Thompson (1959) Invented Lingo programming language

The pioneer of computing, John Henry Thompson, invented the Lingo programming language, used in programs like Adobe Director and VideoWorks.

He was born in Jamaica and went to New York to study studio art. He then went on to learn about technology that would lead him to invent his computer language.

Lingo is widely used in flash and shockwave programs in video games, web design, animation, and graphics.

He has since moved back to Jamaica to teach mobile app development.

There are countless Black innovators in the tech space that could have been featured; this select few have made great impact in both tech and breaking racial barriers.