Degree(s): Law

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Undergraduate Institution: N/A

Graduate Institution: Howard University

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Photo Credit: African-American Registry

Ms. Miriam Benjamin was the second Black woman to obtain a U.S. patent (1888. Her invention, the Gong and Signal Chair for Hotels, was a call button attached to a chair that hotel patrons could press to signal that they needed assistance from a hotel attendant. Her invention was the precursor to the flight attendant call button that is currently used throughout the airline industry.

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