text: famous african american inventor?   i don't know which one your looking for but here's a few(they are all famous in my book).  mccoy, elijah elijah mccoy (1843 or 1844-1929) was a mechanical engineer and inventor. mccoy's high-quality industrial inventions (especially his steam engine lubricator) were the basis for the expression "the real mccoy," meaning the real, authentic, or high-quality thing.   morgan, garrett garrett augustus morgan (march 4, 1877 - august 27, 1963), was an african-american inventor and businessman. he was the first person to patent a traffic signal. he also developed the gas mask (and many other inventions). morgan used his gas mask (patent no. 1,090,936, 1914) to rescue miners who were trapped underground in a noxious mine. soon after, morgan was asked to produce gas masks for the us army.   rillieux, norbert norbert rillieux (march 17, 1806-october 8, 1894) was an african-american inventor and engineer who invented a device that revolutionized sugar processing. rillieux's multiple effect vacuum sugar evaporator (patented in 1864) made the processing of sugar more efficient, faster, and much safer. the resulting sugar was also superior. his apparatus was eventually adopted by sugar processing plants all around the world.   walker, madame c. j. madame c. j. walker (december 23, 1867 - may 25, 1919) was an inventor, businesswoman and self-made millionaire. sarah breedlove mcwilliams c. j. walker was an african-american who developed many beauty and hair care products that were extremely popular. madame walker started her cosmetics business in 1905. her first product was a scalp treatment that used petroleum and a hot comb. sarah later invented a system for straightening hair. she added madame to her name and began selling her new "walker system" door-to-door. walker soon added a hair-growing ointment and other cosmetic products to her line. the products were very successful and she soon had many saleswomen, called "walker agents," who sold her products door to door.   to learn more click below: