Assembly Resolution No. 783

BY: M. of A. Aubry

CELEBRATING the life, legacy and Birthday of the
late Granville T. Woods on April 23, 2022

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body, in keeping with
its time-honored traditions, to recognize and pay tribute to those who
seek to preserve and celebrate the African-American heritage of our
State and Nation; and

WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is justly proud to celebrate the
life, legacy and Birthday of the late Granville T. Woods on Saturday,
April 23, 2022, at St. Michael's Cemetery in East Elmhurst, New York;
and

WHEREAS, This momentous occasion was celebrated with a dedication
performed by David L. Head, a historian and advocate for Granville T.
Woods and other Black pioneers of transportation, who appeared in
costume to tell the story of inventive genius and thwarted promise; and

WHEREAS, Granville T. Woods, a contemporary of Thomas Edison, was
born to free African Americans on April 23, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio; he
received little formal education, but enthralled by trains, he worked in
a railroad shop and learned about metalworking and mechanical
engineering; and

WHEREAS, After working as a fireman shoveling coal into steam
boilers, Granville T. Woods was promoted to engineer; he went on to hold
various engineering and industrial jobs before establishing a company to
develop electrical apparatus; and

WHEREAS, Known as "Black Edison" for his inventions in electricity,
Granville T. Woods registered nearly 50 patents in his lifetime,
including a telephone transmitter, a trolley wheel and the multiplex
telegraph; his first U.S. patent, in 1883, was for a steam boiler
furnace; and

WHEREAS, In 1893, Granville T. Woods was instrumental in developing
an Electric Railway Conduit, the third rail which powers our nation's
subways; the electrification of the Figure 8, a Coney Island roller
coaster; and a wireless communications system which decreased the number
of railroad accidents and other crucial errors; and

WHEREAS, In 1891, Granville T. Woods moved to New York City and
found a niche for himself as an inventor, partly through connections
with General Electric; however, his race during this time sentenced this
remarkable man to a life of struggle and he was often embroiled in court
over the rights to his patents, clearly illustrating the harsh realities
of being a Black inventor at the end of the 19th century; and

WHEREAS, Granville T. Woods died on January 30, 1910, in New York
City, at the age of 53; he is buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in East
Elmhurst, New York; and

WHEREAS, In the gradual rediscovery of Black history, Granville T.
Woods began to gain much deserved recognition and respect for his many
achievements; and

WHEREAS, In his 1968 book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or
Community?, The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. cited Granville T. Woods
as "an expert in electric motors, whose many patents speeded the growth
and improvement at the beginning of this century"; and

WHEREAS, P.S. 335 in Bedford Stuyvesant has been named the Granville
T. Woods Elementary School, and Western Electric commissioned a bronze
marker for his unmarked grave at St. Michael's Cemetery in 1975;
additionally, in 2004, for the centennial celebration of the New York
City subway system, the MTA issued four million MetroCards commemorating
Granville T. Woods; and

WHEREAS, Furthermore, nobody has done more to promote Granville T.
Woods's legacy than David L. Head, who learned about the inventor while
writing for the Transit Workers Union Black history committee; and

WHEREAS, Throughout the course of American history, Black innovators
such as Granville T. Woods have used their great talents to vastly
improve devices and communications for the electric railway system in
the United States; on April 23, 2022, we honor this true pioneer whose
purposeful life and accomplishments will forever stand as a paradigm and
inspiration for others; and

WHEREAS, Events which provide a means of preserving a part of our
rich American past and which contribute to the community in such noble
endeavors, are held in the highest regard by this Legislative Body; now,
therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
celebrate the life, legacy and Birthday of the late Granville T. Woods
on April 23, 2022; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to David L. Head and St. Michael's Cemetery, East Elmhurst,
New York.