Get to know William Chester Ruth
African American man overcoming immense obstacles through ingenuity and intelligence to become an ingenious inventor. Having grown up in a rural Pennsylvania family that came out of slavery, William Chester Ruth learned blacksmithing and mechanics to become an inventor of agricultural equipment and devices that made the business of farming easier and more profitable.
How does a man whose formal education ended in elementary school rise to become an ‘inventive genius’?
African American, William Chester Ruth, surmounted the challenges of insufficient education, racial injustice and economic hardship in his journey to become a visionary and creative inventor who left an indelible mark on history.
Who was this man whose numerous patents changed agricultural and highway safety, and was commissioned by the US Government to design secret wartime devices?
Son of a formerly enslaved person, from humble beginnings, whose expected path was one of hard physical labor to earn an honorable living, Ruth looked beyond his horizon. The intangible was his ‘playground’; that place where he allowed himself to dream and create.
How does one with so few advantages, attain a historical marker commissioned by the State of Pennsylvania at the site of his former business and receive national recognition for his inventions in publications such as The African American National Biography and Ebony magazine?
These are some of the questions we will answer as we tell the story of this talented, resilient and humble man.
