African & Black History
@africanarchives —Frederick Douglas Patterson was the first African American to build motorized cars. His father, Charles Rich Patterson created C. R. Patterson and Sons Company located in Greenfield, Ohio. Beginning in 1865, the company built fashionable carriages. Frederick Patterson inherited the company upon the death of his father in 1910 and began building motorized vehicles. The first Patterson automobile, the Patterson-Greenfield, rolled off the line on Sept 23, 1915. Unfortunately, Henry Ford debuted the Model T on Oct 1, 1908 and by that point had captured most of the American car-buying market. —Named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Patterson was born on Sept 17, 1871 in Greenfield, Ohio to Josephine and Charles Richard. In 1888, Patterson attended Ohio State University
Honoring the Legacy of C.R. Patterson & Sons 🚗✨ In the early 20th century, when the automotive industry was dominated by white-owned companies, one African American family dared to stand out. Meet C.R. Patterson & Sons, the first Black-owned car manufacturer in the United States. Founded in 1915 by Charles Richard Patterson, a former enslaved man who had become a skilled carriage maker, the company set out to produce the "Patterson-Greenfield" - a "sensibly priced" roadster packed with ...
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