Day 8 of Black History Month –

Yesterday was snow day for me,  so it was an excuse to read. (Ha! Like I need an excuse.)  I spent the afternoon with

The book “is filled with illustrated histories behind some of life’s most common and underappreciated objects – from the paperclip and the toothbrush to the sports bra and roller skates.”

There were many stories about the things that we live with that surprised and delighted me. It’s also showed how people of color made contributions great and small. Some of the inventors, I already knew about, like Madame C.J. Walker .

Do you know who Jan Ernst Matzeliger is? Those of us who love shoe shopping ought be grateful to him.

In 1883, Jan Ernst Matzeliger came up with an original innovation that changed how shoes were made. He devised a machine that would sew the sole to the upper of a shoe in about a minute. His “shoe lasting” machine changed the process of how shoes were made by mechanizing a part of their manufacture that previously had to be done by hand and thereby cut the cost of making shoes by half. Amazing!

I recommend this book. it’s filled with great informative stories for all ages!