Solomon Harper (born in Poplar Grove, Arkansas, on August 8, 1893) was an

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...

known for creating the first electrically heated hair roller and 28 other inventions. During the course of his career, he struggled to receive recognition and compensation for his inventions. Harper was trained as an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the ...

and was a

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

. He was a politically active communist, and organized at least one march to picket the White House about unemployment in 1930.

References

1893 births Year of death missing Place of death missing 20th-century American inventors 20th-century American engineers American electrical engineers Engineers from Arkansas People from Phillips County, Arkansas African-American engineers African-American inventors 20th-century African-American people {{US-engineer-stub