Intro to Industrial Design

Wow- where do I even begin to compare and contrast the excerpts from A Brief History of Industrial Design and Black People Invented Everything?

Here’s a simple laundry list of the most obvious comparisons-

The former is focused industrial designers within a shorter period of history, while the latter talks about inventors in many different fields throughout history as a whole. The former is highly focused on technological implications on industrial design, while the latter is focused on acknowledging important inventions throughout the ages. And maybe most strikingly, but not surprisingly (and definitely not revelatory on my part- we were clearly given these two pieces of writing for a reason), the former acknowledges the most famous people, and subconsciously(?) does so in an incredibly exclusive way by paying tribute to white males, while the latter focuses on black people exclusively, and, very intentionally.

The call to remember a more diverse array of inventors in Black People Invented Everything was very compelling. I feel embarrassed that I knew almost none of the names presented to me, and even more embarrassed that I have never questioned the lack of diversity in the names that have been presented to me in different historical accounts I have read over the course of my education. This piece makes it clear that there should be more intentionality in recognizing the diverse groups of actors that make different inventions/designs/etc. possible, rather than the “stars” who have become the faces of the products they invented, BUT ALSO, that there are many “stars” that are not white males that deserve far more historical recognition than they’re currently receiving.