African Americans have made extraordinary contributions to the history and culture of the United States as part of the nation and apart from it. This month, Auction Finds present s “28 days (Plus 1)” of this collaborative history. The additional day is intended to break Black history out of the stricture of a month into its rightful place as an equal partner in the history of America. Each day, I will offer artifacts culled from the auction tables and my research, along with the stories they hold.
Feb. 3, 2022
Black car-maker from 1900s
Charles Richard Patterson was the country’s first Black automaker, producing the Patterson-Greenfield car. Patterson escaped from slavery in West Virginia, settled in Greenfield, OH, was hired as a blacksmith for the town’s first coach-and wagon-maker, and eventually became its foreman. In the late 1800s, he bought out another carriage-builder and renamed the company C.R. Patterson, Son & Co., making horse-drawn carriages and buggies. At the insistence of his son Frederick, the company began making horseless carriages – or cars – around 1900. The company made 30 to 150 cars. Read the full story.
