Sarah Goode was the first African American women to receive a U.S. patent. Patent #322,177 was issued on July 14, 1885 for a cabinet bed. Sarah Goode was the owner of a Chicago furniture store. Below you can view the patent issued to Sarah Goode.
According to Black Inventors website, "Her claim to fame is that she was the first Black Woman to receive a patent.
In an effort to help people maximize their limited space, Goode invented a Folding Cabinet Bed. The Cabinet Bed when folded up resembled a desk which included compartments for stationary and writing instruments. Goode received her patent on July 14, 1885."
Preston Goode, formerly of Gosport, is celebrating his 106th birthday today, Thursday, Nov. 29, at a Camden nursing facility.
Goode lived on a farm in Mobile until 1934 when he moved to Gosport. "There was no work in Mobile. I was not making any money. I was raised on a farm and I figured I could raise something, so I moved to the country to farm.
"In 1935 I didn't have the land to raise cotton so I farmed another man's land and raised bale cotton. Back then they came out with a stamp you had to have to sell cotton. The man had a stamp to sell the cotton and he was supposed to give me half of his allotment, but he only gave me a little bit. I went to Grove Hill to the to the office and asked them to give me a stamp to sell my allotment. They made the man give me more of his allotment. That made him mad so he wouldn't let me farm his land any more. The next year Mr. Gordon of Grove Hill let me raise a bale of cotton on the Rayborn field," Goode said.
Goode and his wife, Autherine Berries, were married in 1927 and lived happily together for 55 years before she died.
"We didn't have no problems. We got along together good. I was working and she was saving. She saved and cooked and didn't waste nothing. I missed her very much when she died," he said.
Goode said he enjoyed farming and contiued to farm until he was too disbaled to perform the work. He also loved to fish and hunt. "I've done a lot of fishing. I've got rods and reels hanging on the walls in my house in Gosport. I used to fish at the Claiborne Lock and Dam until my knees got too bad to make it down the rocks.
"I loved to hunt. I killed coons, possums and turkeys. I had a lot of turkey callers."
Goode provided the first "bus" for black school children in Clarke County. He began providing them with transportation in 1947.
"I carried a lot of children to school. Some of them from the first grade until they graduated the 12th grade."
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