Who is Dr. Marian Rogers Croak?

Dr. Marian Croak, an African American woman, is credited with initiating and furthering the development of VOIP, also known as Voice Over Internet Protocol. Her groundbreaking technology allows people to efficiently communicate through audio and/or video while using the internet. In fact, it’s the very technology used by popular companies like Skype, MagicJack, Zoom, Vonage, and more. There are hundreds of companies worldwide that offer VOIP services.

They started out by offering business models and technical solutions that mirrored the architecture of the legacy telephone network, but now the industry has evolved.

The concept of federated VoIP was born which allows dynamic interconnection between users on any two domains on the Internet when a user wishes to place a call.

With that technology, calls and SMS text messages can be sent over mobile data or Wi-Fi using VOIP phones (software-based softphones or hardware devices), personal computers and tablets.

Marian’s contribution to VOIP has literally taken the internet to a new level.

Who is Garrett A. Morgan?

Garrett A. Morgan (1877-1965): The Cleveland inventor was tried by fire, literally. In 1916, Morgan help perform a heroic rescue of workers trapped within a water intake tunnel under Lake Erie thanks to a hood he created that incorporated air tubes hanging low to the ground to allow the wearer to breathe clean air under the smoke. Morgan got his start working in Cleveland as sewing machine repairman and owned a clothing store, which sparked his idea to create his “smoke hood.” Morgan had many ideas and inventions – from the three-position traffic light to a chemical agent to straighten hair. He also helped found the Cleveland Association of Colored Men and the Cleveland Call newspaper.

Garrett Morgan designed a unique T-shaped signal. While not the first traffic signal in existence, Morgan’s design was eventually purchased by none other than General Electric, who would go on to make most of the nation’s traffic lights. Interestingly, Morgan himself was the first black man in Cleveland to own a car, so he doubtlessly had a grasp of the importance of safety.

Morgan and his wife owned a tailoring shop, and he accidentally discovered a concoction that straightened natural fibers while experimenting with chemicals to prevent wool from scorching. He began selling the first documented hair relaxer when he founded the G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Company. This brought him enough financial success to devote time to other inventions.

Who is Langston Hughes?

Langston Hughes (1902-67): The literary great and Central High School student is said to have developed his writing style in the third-floor attic of the colonial home he lived in at East 86th Street. He wrote for the school newspaper and started writing his earlier plays, poems and short stories while living in Cleveland. He also attended classes at the influential Karamu House African-American theater and settlement house, where founders Russell and Rowena Jelliffe helped the teenage Hughes hone his creative voice.

An American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that “the Negro was in vogue”, which was later paraphrased as “when Harlem was in vogue.“

Growing up in a series of Midwestern towns, Hughes became a prolific writer at an early age. He moved to New York City as a young man, where he made his career. He graduated from high school in Cleveland, Ohio, and soon began studies at Columbia University in New York City. Although he dropped out, he gained notice from New York publishers, first in The Crisis magazine, and then from book publishers and became known in the creative community in Harlem. He eventually graduated from Lincoln University. In addition to poetry, Hughes wrote plays, and short stories. He also published several non-fiction works. As the civil rights movement was gaining traction, he wrote an in-depth weekly column in a leading black newspaper, The Chicago Defender.