A WORLD W/OUT BLACKS

 A very humorous and revealing story is told about a group of white people
 who were fed up with African Americans, so they joined together and wished
 themselves away.  They passed through a deep dark tunnel and emerged in
 sort  of a twilight zone where there is an America without black people.

 At first these white people breathed a sigh of relief.  At last, they
 say, no  more crime, drugs, violence and welfare. All of the blacks have
 gone!! Then  suddenly, reality sets in. The "NEW AMERICA" is not America at
 all-only a barren land.

 There are very few crops that have flourished because the nation was
 built on a slave-supported system.

 1.  There were no cities with tall skyscrapers because Alexander Mils, a
 black man, invented the elevator, and without it one finds great
 difficulty  reaching high floors.

 2.  There are few if any cars because Richard Spikes, a black man,
 invented the automatic gearshift, Joseph Gammell, also black, invented
 the Super Charge System for Internal Combustion Engines, and Garrett A.
 Morgan invented the traffic signals.

 3.  Furthermore, one could not use the rapid transit system because its
 precursor was the electric trolley, which was invented by another black
 man,  Elbert R. Robinson.

 4.  Even if there were streets on which cars and a rapid transit system
 could operate, they were cluttered with paper because an African
 American, Charles Brooks, invented the street sweeper.

 5.  There were few if any newspapers, magazines and books because John
 Love invented the pencil sharpener, William Purvis invented the fountain
 pen, Lee Burridge invented the Type Writing Machine and W. A. Lovette
 invented the Advanced Printing Press.  They were all, you guessed it, black.

 6.  Even if Americans could write their letters, articles and books,
 they would not have been transported by mail because William Barry
 invented the Postmarking and Canceling Machine, William Purvis invented
 the Hand Stamp and Phillip Downing invented the Letter Drop.

 7.  The lawns were brown and wilted because Joseph Smith invented the
 Lawn Sprinkler and John Burr the Lawn Mower.

 8.  When they entered their homes, they found them to be poorly
 ventilated and poorly heated.  You see, Frederick Jones invented the Air
 Conditioner and Alice Parker the Heating Furnace.  Their homes were also
 dim.  But of course!, Lewis Latimer invented the Electric Lamp,
 Michael Harvey invented the Lantern and Granville T. Woods invented the
 Automatic Cut off Switch.  Their homes were also filthy because Thomas W.
 Steward invented the Mop and Lloyd P. Ray, the Dustpan.

 9.  Their children met them at the door-barefoot, shabby, motley and
 unkempt.  But what could one expect?  Jan E. Matzelinger invented the
 Shoe Lasting Machine, Walter Sammons invented the Comb, Sarah Boone invented
 the Ironing Board and George T. Samon invented the Clothes Dryer.

 10. Finally, they were resigned to at least have dinner amidst all of
 this turmoil.  But here again, the food had spoiled because another black
 man, John Standard invented the refrigerator.  Now, isn't that something?

 What would this world be like without the contributions of Black folks?
 Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "that by the time we leave for work we
 have been dependent on half the inventions of the modern American world
which are the inventions from the minds of Black folks".