06/19/2026
June 19 is the date that we celebrate Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, marking the end of slavery in the United States in 1865. In June of 2021, the Senate voted to make Juneteenth a federal holiday – the first holiday signed into effect since Martin Luther King Jr. Day by President Ronald Regan in 1983. To honor this momentous occasion, we are recognizing the accomplishments of Lewis Latimer, who made significant, lasting improvements in the United States.
Lewis Howard Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on September 4, 1848. Shortly after, his parents, Rebecca and George Latimer, left Virginia to live and raise children on free soil. Lewis, the youngest child, attended grammar school, where he showed excellent ability in reading and drawing. By 1884, Latimer started working for Thomas Edison and guided him through the process of properly filing patent forms at the U.S. Patent Office. He dedicated time to the engineering and legal department of the Edison Electric Light Company. During his day-to-day work, Latimer drafted sketches and documents for Edison’s inventions and looked over plans to determine if there were any patent infringements. He was also in charge of managing the company library and collected information from around the world, translating data in French and German to protect the company from any international challenges. During his employment with Thomas Edison, Latimer wrote a book titled “Incandescent Electric Lighting: A Practical Description of the Edison System.” This work was published in 1890 and explained how an incandescent lamp produced light in a simplified manner that was easy to understand. Throughout his career, he accumulated patents for an arc lamp, a cooling and disinfecting device, and a locking rack for coats, hats, and umbrellas.
In his spare time, Latimer and his wife, Mary, entertained leaders of New York’s black community and corresponded with Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington and other activists to improve the lives of those in surrounding communities. In a Fort Myers Press interview with his granddaughter, Winifred Norman, she stated, “He was a Renaissance man. He taught himself French and German so he could read publications in those languages. He was a musician, an artist, a poet.”
Today, visitors can learn more about Lewis Latimer in an exhibit dedicated to him inside the 15,000-square-foot museum.
