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Discover the Black American inventors, builders, scientists, educators, entrepreneurs, and leaders whose work helped create the wealth and growth of America.
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Today’s featured history maker
Garrett Morgan
Innovation, courage, and practical problem-solving helped shape modern American life.
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JOURNALFoundations of Power™
JOURNALFoundations of Power™
New research every Monday
History deserves more than a footnote.
Why Black American Contributions Belong at the Center of the American Story
The Foundations of Power™ Journal examines the people, labor, ideas, institutions, and achievements that helped shape the United States. Every article is sourced, reviewed, and permanently preserved in the Journal archive.
Visit the Journal ↗Foundations of Power™ Classroom Resources
Students can explore history, build knowledge, and complete interactive lessons.
Fact-checked interactive Live Workbooks with guided lessons, activities, automatic scoring, explanations, unlimited retakes, and printable certificates after mastery.
Military History Collection5 Live WorkbooksGrades 8–12 • Bundle
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Black American military service, courage, and national defense
Get five interactive Live Workbooks covering the United States Colored Troops, 54th Massachusetts Infantry, Harlem Hellfighters, Tuskegee Airmen, and Black Americans in America’s Wars.
$39.99
License: Individual/Household use only. Classroom and institutional use requires an Educational License.
5-workbook value: $49.95 • Save $9.96
View Collection ↗Garrett MorganLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Invention, enterprise, and public safety
Explore Morgan’s problem-solving, businesses, safety hood, traffic-control improvement, and civic influence.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗Lewis LatimerLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Drafting, engineering, and electric light
Follow Latimer’s path from self-taught draftsman to inventor, patent expert, electrical engineer, and technical writer.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗Elijah McCoyLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Engineering, patents, and industrial progress
Follow McCoy from railroad oilman to inventor and manufacturer of automatic lubrication systems.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗George Robert CarruthersLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Ultraviolet astronomy and space discovery
Explore the engineering behind Carruthers’s far-ultraviolet camera and the first astronomical observatory on the Moon.
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View Workbook ↗Dr. Charles Richard DrewLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Blood plasma, medical systems, and ethical leadership
Study Drew’s research, Blood for Britain leadership, opposition to segregated blood, and training of Black surgeons.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗Frederick McKinley JonesLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Mobile refrigeration and the modern cold chain
Follow Jones from self-taught mechanic and Army electrician to inventor, entrepreneur, and builder of reliable refrigerated transport.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗Otis BoykinLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Precision resistors and dependable electronics
Follow Boykin from physics and chemistry student to inventor, entrepreneur, and designer of reliable components used across important technologies.
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View Workbook ↗Dr. Patricia BathLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Eye care, medical access, and laser innovation
Study how Bath connected public-health evidence, medical training, leadership, and the Laserphaco invention to improve eye care.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗Marie Van Brittan BrownLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Home security and occupant-controlled surveillance
Study how Brown turned a household safety problem into an integrated video, audio, locking, and alarm system.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗Miriam E. BenjaminLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Service signals, efficiency, and invention
Explore how Benjamin combined a push control, audible gong, and visible signal to improve how seated people requested assistance.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗Maggie Lena WalkerLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Banking, enterprise, and economic empowerment
Study how Walker connected mutual aid, publishing, retail, banking, and civic action to strengthen Black communities.
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View Workbook ↗Granville T. WoodsLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Railway communication and electric transportation
Explore Woods’s induction telegraphy, electric-railway systems, patents, entrepreneurship, and impact on America’s transportation infrastructure.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗Sarah E. GoodeLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Space-saving design, patents, and enterprise
Study Goode’s documented 1885 folding cabinet-bed patent and the role of practical design, evidence, and entrepreneurship in American innovation.
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View Workbook ↗Alexander MilesLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Elevator safety, automation, and urban infrastructure
Study Miles’s documented 1887 elevator improvements, automatic shaft and cage-door mechanisms, patent evidence, and their place in America’s growing built environment.
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View Workbook ↗Valerie L. ThomasLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Landsat, digital imagery, and scientific innovation
Study Thomas’s NASA work in Landsat image processing, global crop monitoring, computing, and her patented Illusion Transmitter.
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View Workbook ↗United States Colored TroopsLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Black soldiers, the Civil War, and Union victory
Study emancipation, Black enlistment, unequal pay, battlefield service, sacrifice, and the contribution of Black Union soldiers to American victory and freedom.
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View Workbook ↗54th Massachusetts InfantryLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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Fort Wagner, equal pay, and Black Union courage
Study the 54th Massachusetts, its Black soldiers, Fort Wagner, Sergeant William H. Carney, the fight for equal pay, and the regiment’s continuing Civil War service.
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View Workbook ↗Harlem Hellfighters — 369th InfantryLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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World War I combat, discrimination, and valor
Study the 369th Infantry Regiment, its service with French forces, extended frontline combat, Henry Johnson, Croix de Guerre recognition, and the struggle for equal citizenship at home.
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View Workbook ↗Tuskegee AirmenLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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World War II aviation, segregation, and American air power
Study the Tuskegee Airmen, the 99th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, Red Tails, bomber escort, support personnel, and their role in challenging military segregation.
$9.99
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View Workbook ↗Black Americans in America’s WarsLive WorkbookGrades 8–12
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From the Revolution through Vietnam
Trace Black American military service across the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Buffalo Soldier era, World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam.
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View Workbook ↗Why this work matters
The story of America is incomplete without Black American history.
Foundations of Power brings overlooked contributions into the light and connects the achievements of the past to the world we live in today.
01
Document the truth
Center the lives, work, and lasting impact of Black Americans in the American story.
02
Honor the builders
Recognize the people whose ideas, labor, courage, and leadership strengthened the nation.
03
Pass it forward
Make history accessible so families, students, and future generations can learn from it.
Available now
Foundations of Power
Black American Contributions to the Wealth & Growth of America
The wealth of America was built on many foundations. This book helps restore Black American achievement to its rightful place in the national story.
Journey across agriculture, railroads, industry, education, medicine, science, business, aerospace, and more. Meet the people whose work changed America—and whose stories deserve to be known.
By Charles A. Jones Jr.341 pagesPaperback
Buy on Amazon ↗An ongoing educational journey
60 days. 60 stories. One powerful legacy.
Follow the Foundations of Power 60-Day History Series for short, focused stories about Black American excellence, ingenuity, courage, and impact.
Inventors
Scientists
Educators
Entrepreneurs
Builders
Leaders
Names worth knowing
Explore a wider history of American achievement.
The series introduces history makers across generations and fields of work. Each name opens a door to a larger story.
Real history. Real people. Real impact. Real legacy.
About the author
Charles A. Jones Jr.
Charles A. Jones Jr. is the author of Foundations of Power: Black American Contributions to the Wealth & Growth of America. His work is dedicated to documenting, honoring, and sharing the stories of Black Americans whose contributions helped shape the nation.
Through the book and the 60-Day History Series, he invites readers of every generation to discover a fuller American story.
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Join the journey.
Questions, speaking inquiries, or educational collaboration.