Day 11 - Thomas L. Jennings - The Dry Clean King

Old Clothes Press

One of the most terrifying things you can find in an object of clothing is that little tag that says, "Dry Clean Only".

You see that tag, and you know you have a finicky fabric on your hands. Well, at least you can get it clean. There was a time when you would just have to put up with the stains.


Thomas L. Jennings (1791 - 1859) was born a free man in New York, NY.






He was a successful businessman who owned and operated his own tailoring shop. He was married to an enslaved woman named Elizabeth. This was difficult because even though Thomas was free, legally, his children belonged to Elizabeth's enslaver.

One of the things Thomas noted was that customers were often dissatisfied with the cleaning methods of the day. They would complain about the stains that marred their nice outfits.

Dry Clean Only

Thomas began experimenting with chemicals that would clean clothes without damaging the fabric. In 1821 he filed a patent for the solution he created. He called the process he'd invented Dry Scouring.

He was the first African American to ever be granted a patent under the Patent Act of 1793.

When the government approved his patent, it caused quite a stir.

In order to get the patent, Jennings had to swear that he was an American Citizen. There were any number of people who were offended by this because it never occurred to them to think of black people as American Citizens. It was a huge admission by the government that many thought overstepped the law.

The patented formula for Dry Scouring was a huge success and it was adopted far and wide. With the proceeds from his invention, Thomas Jennings bought his wife and child out of enslavement.

He spent the rest of his life as an abolitionist.

in 1831, he was the secretary of the First Annual Convention of the People of Color in Philadelphia,, PA. 

NIHF

In 1855 he helped found the Legal Rights Association. This organization took on discrimination cases.

Jennings died in 1859, a year before the Civil War began, and six years before that most hated institution of government-sanctioned human chattel was finally abolished for good.


In 2018 Thomas Jennings was inducted into the Inventor's Hall of Fame for his patented formula for Dry Scouring - or as we call it today - Dry Cleaning!


Here's to Thomas Jennings!

A man who paved the way and fought until his last breath for the good of society.

Celebrate Black History!