On this day in 1898, Lyda A. Newman, a black hairdresser, patented a hair brush with synthetic bristles. It was specifically made for Black hair because the previous animal hair brushes were too soft. It also permitted easy cleaning because it had detachable units. —Lyda D. Newman born in 1865 (no exact date known) was a patented inventor and involved activist for women's suffrage. She is known for the invention of the first synthetic hairbrush. Lyda spent the majority of her life living and working in New York City. Newman's primary occupation was hair care as she listed “hair specialist” or “hairdresser” in various New York City Directories and US Government Federal and New York City censuses. In the late 1800s, Newman invented a hairbrush that could be taken apart easily for cleaning because it contained a compartment at the bottom that could be removed from the back and be cleaned. The U.S. Patent 614,335 was filed on July 11, 1898 and granted on November 15, 1898. Even more important than creating her patented invention, Newman was an active community member and organizer for women's suffrage in the early 20th century. The suffrage movement was a push for women's right to vote in elections. As a suffragist, she spent her time canvasing neighborhoods in New York City, hosted street meetings to educate passing people and to support the Woman Suffrage Party, Newman started the Negro Suffrage Headquarters in Manhattan. On August 29, 1915, the New York Times noted under "Suffrage Centre for Negroes", "The Woman Suffrage Party is to open a suffrage headquarters for colored people at 207 West Sixty-third Street on Wednesday. This will be in charge of Miss Lyda Newman, who is doing excellent work for suffrage among her own people. The headquarters will be gayly decorated with suffrage posters, flags and streamers.” Unfortunately, just as in her birth there is no record of what year in which she died, however what is undeniable is that she used her money and resources to advance the cause for all women's rights. 🖋️you can support (donate) or follow our ko-fi page on AfricanArchives.Support (follow the page too for weekly posts roundup)

So who taught a young Jack Daniel how to distill what would become the world’s best-selling whiskey? Nathan "Nearest" Green, an enslaved Black master distiller, taught distilling techniques to Jack Daniel, founder of the Jack Daniel Tennessee whiskey. —Uncle Nearest, as he was fondly called by family and friends grew up in Lynchburg, Tennessee, and began working on the farm of a country preacher and distiller in Lincoln County around the mid-1800s. It was there that he learned the skill of distilling and specialized in a process of distillation known as sugar maple charcoal filtering which was also called the Lincoln County Process. Nearest was such a skilled distiller in the process he specialized in but he kept working with the preacher in the Lincoln County and fortunately it was there that Jack Daniels met him. In the mid-1850s, Jack Daniels who was just a young white boy from a large family and who also lost his mother to a sudden illness at the age of four months began working as a chore boy for the preacher whom Uncle Nearest worked for. It is said that Jack Daniels was a curious young boy who kept asking about the smoke coming up through the hollow on the 338-acre property and why men kept hurrying back and forth from that area which he was never allowed to go with mules and wagons. He never stopped asking, until the preacher whim he worked for decided to give in to his curiosity took him to the area on the property where the smoke came from. As later described in the boy’s biography, it is said that the preacher introduced the young boy to a “coal-black negro” which was uncle Nearest. He introduced Uncle Nearest by saying “This is Uncle Nearest. He’s the best whiskey maker I know of”. The preacher went further to ask Nearest to teach the young (Jack Daniels) everything he knew about distilling and also the process of sugar maple charcoal filtering. A request Nearest obliged and taught the young boy the special filtration process of the Tennessee whiskey.