Lyrics:
Born into chains and auction blocks
I was under the eyes of the Davis family
I vowed not to be chattel and kept myself learned
Those steamboats in the South enraptured me
Yet they could only do so much
One bad turn and a famine or shortage can occur
No need to steer people wrong and I would figure the right angles for this problem
Enter the propeller! (X4)
My design made these steamboats faster, more efficient, and had better navigation
Shame how my patent was denied (X4)
My former captors including the president of the South tried and failed to credit themselves for what I made
I dreamed of more despite my heartbreak
Isaiah, the rest is up to you.
On Wednesday, I gave a crash course on my Art Theft tracks, but today we’re going to focus on my About A Benjamin series on Dear Innovare. Part II involves the inventor Benjamin Montgomery. His biggest claim as an inventor is creating the steam-powered propeller. Sure, we don’t hear about that propeller that much in 2020, but this was an archetype for controlling boats. Back in his day, he was in the South, so you had all these steamboats around, but they didn’t have any control as they do now when it comes to aquatic transportation. These boats would ship medicine, food, clothes, and other important things. One wrong move, and people will lose major business at best…or die from sickness or famine at worst. Montgomery grew up as a slave, but he was able to make this propeller which causes the boats to actually steer and maneuver in different ways. However, when he made the propeller, it was around the time when black people legally couldn’t patent anything and white people would steal the patents and get all the credit.
This is part of American history, warts and all!
Montgomery’s captors and patent thieves were the Davis family which also involved Jefferson Davis. Yes, the same person who was the president of the freaking Confederacy tried to steal his invention! I’m sick of this thievery and this notion that black people can’t invent anything which sadly people still think about that fallacy even today. Show them this fact and call it a day.
The image of Benjamin Montgomery is from Black Inventor Online Museum.
Ospreyshire's Realm 
Wow, ospreyshire! Keep educating the people. One of my favorite phrases is: “The only thing white people invented, was the patent office and used it to steal everybody else’s idea’s and inventions.”
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Thank you so much, Kreb! I’ll continue doing so with these songs on the album, news stories, and future projects. I heard about that phrase before, but I forget where. That’s unfortunately the case here in America about those patent bans on black people. I wish I knew about these things when I was younger, but it’s obvious why these topics aren’t taught in American schools.
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Very obvious.
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Of course. It’s no wonder I’ve become an autodidact by habit.
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I love the word autodidact because I learned it just a couple of years ago.
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That’s great! I like that word, too. It is the perfect word to describe the kind of learning I’ve been doing especially recently.
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great writing, thank you for sharing.
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No problem. I’m glad you enjoyed the write-up and hopefully the recording, too.
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There is so much that has been stolen from us and is still being stolen from us. We get no credit for anything other than going to jail on bogus charges, drummed up by our mortal foe who will forever remain so.
Great work!
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Exactly, Shelby! Expect more examples involving America, Canada, and multiple African nations when it comes to this album. That is a good way of describing it and it’s no wonder I get fired up when people don’t get credit for their works especially researching more aspects of the patent offices or finding out about various inventions.
Thank you!
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