Robert Benjamin Lewis

Being African American, and being the daughter of an inventor, as well as being a native New Englander, I am absolutely fascinated by Robert Benjamin Lewis. Not much is known about him, but he was a black man who had in fact, was an inventor, entrepreneur, as well as a successful marketer back in the day when accomplishments of people of color and their achievements were not celebrated or acknowledged, and very rarely recorded. He was the author of the book "Light and Truth" written and published in 1836, considered to be the first "history book". The topic was the relationship between African Americans and Native Americans in relation to the Bible.

"Lewis was an ethnologist, and his book Light and Truth was an African American ethnology that denounced notions of white superiority. During Lewis's life, the American school of ethnology held that non-white races were inherently inferior and argued that God created the inferior races at a different point in time than Caucasians. In Light and Truth, Lewis exposes the illegitimacy of these views, and asserted that all of humankind has a common origin."

My own father, Luverne Harleigh Barnette, Jr., was the co-inventor for the pacemaker battery, and numerous other inventions, including floor wax. These two men give me much joy and they share similar ethnicities. My father was half Cherokee and African American, and Robert Benjamin Lewis's father was either a Mohegan from Rhode Island or Pequot from neighboring New London and Montville, Connecticut. Lewis' mother was Lucky Stockbridge, the daughter of Hazard Stockbridge, a rebellious slave, who once choked out a horse bought by Doctor Silvester Gardiner of Boston, who managed to acquire much wealth as a land developer in Maine. He was also a pharmaceutical manufacturer.

This incredible soul held three US patents. He was one of the few African American inventors who were allowed to patent inventions. He made significant improvements to manufacturing processes such as the machine used for picking of oakum and hair. Oakum was “loosely twisted hemp or jute fiber impregnated with tar or a tar derivative.” Sailing ships had hemp ropes that were used as rigging on board, and even though coated with pine tar, it would eventually wear away and needed to be replaced, which was time consuming.

On April 11, 1836, applying for his invention, Lewis stated that "I, Robert Benjamin Lewis of Hallowell, in the county of Kennebec, and state of Maine, have invented a new and useful machine for the picking of oakum and hair." "Oakum" is defined as "loosely twisted hemp or jute fiber impregnated with tar or a tar derivative." During the days of the mighty sailing ships, hemp ropes were used as rigging on board. Although coated with pine tar and varnish, the coating would eventually wear out and the rigging would have to be replaced. Since little time could be wasted, and before the advent of recycling, Lewis found that the old rope could be recycled by unraveling all the strands until the rope was minimized to single threads, and then rewound very loosely; hence “oakum.” This was then used as a caulk to make the ships watertight. So the term, “picking oakum" is the actual unraveling of the strands of rope. Of course this was a tedious job, relegated to those of lower class and indentured people. Lewis’ machine did the work of the picker as the teeth on a cylinder, which was turned by a crank, separated the strands of the old rope to produce oakum. His patent was awarded on June 25, 1836. This "hair picker" became a mainstay of many Maine shipyards.

Another one of his inventions was called the “Feather Renovator.” A machine for cleaning and drying feathers. Usually the decorative feathers that adorned the fashionable crowd of the day. It was US Patent #1655 that was assigned to a New York City businessman named John Stevens. These feathers would be refurbished and rearranged as part of the laundering and cleaning care of garments.

February 23, 1841 was another day of invention for Lewis. US Patent #1992 was an improvement for paint brushes. He was a whitewasher for a time, and saw that many brushes had defects which could be improved upon. New bristles could be inserted within the defective ones. This proved to be a very valuable product.

In addition to the above inventions, he developed a hair elixir he called “Lewis’ Arabian Hair Oil.” The advertisement in one of the Maine newspapers read:

"THE knowledge of this highly esteemed Oil for the Hair was obtained from a distinguished ARABIAN by the subscriber. It is used almost universally in that country, to make the hair grow long, to give it a healthy and lively appearance, and preserve its beauty to an advanced age. It is decidedly the best oil that was ever used in this or any other country for preventing the Hair from coming off, giving life to the roots, and making it grow long and soft. It also darkens it and gives a beautiful gloss....This Oil I have not been able to obtain till now, except in very small quantities, and have used it for myself and family occasionally for two or three years. My own hair and that of my children are LIVING WITNESSES of its efficacy and which cannot be doubted. Look and see.”

It is said that the crowds were “spellbound’ as he described how powerful his product was. As the population in Maine was mostly Caucasian, I can imagine their “spellbindedness” bordered more on curiosity of the structure and anatomy of the African American hair and its porosity. He called his hair “long black Indiany locks” and as proof, he would pull his curls down over his coat collar.

No matter, as a black man in that century, the sale of his oils provided him with a substantial income for years to come. He even ventured into the publishing world and wrote what is considered the first “history book” about African Americans and Native Americans titled Light and Truth. This edition numbered 176 pages, but he realized there was much more to be said about this topic of ethnology. He needed to compile a more expansive version and that eventually totaled four hundred pages. He became involved with four Boston businessmen; Thomas Dalton, a shoemaker, James Scott who was called “an old clothes dealer” (which sounds to me as if probably sold second-hand clothing), junk dealer Andress V. Lewis, who was not related to Robert Benjamin Lewis, and yet another shoemaker Charles H. Roberts. They dubbed their alliance the “Committee of Colored Gentlemen.”

The printer was the half brother of Charles Roberts-Benjamin F. Roberts. It is really worth noting that in 1850, Benjamin brought a suit against the city of Boston in order for his daughter Sarah to attend her neighborhood school, instead of the underfunded school several miles from her home. As was usually the case during this era, Roberts v Boston was decided against them, but Massachusetts five years later decided against segregation in their schools.

Lewis’ work can be called theological study, veering toward black nationalism. Professor John Ernest of the University of Delaware says: “Lewis saw it as his mission to search diligently...in the quest of light, and truth, in ancient, sacred and profane history, translated by English historians...truths that have long been concealed from the sons of Ethiopia." Professor Ernest suggests that Lewis was attempting to record “the history of the community defined by white oppression without the defining terms of the white oppressors.”

In the twilight of his life he moved from Hallowell, to Bath, Maine, circa 1848 where he built a cozy cottage close to the court house. He was to become a steward and cook on the merchantman Philip Larrabee of Bath, which was bound for Port-au-Prince early 1858. As luck would have it, he became ill in February of 1958, he passed away. He was buried there in Haiti. Although his name is not a household name, I believe it should be.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Benjamin_Lewis#Light_and_Truth