The Underground Railroad was the way to freedom for Elijah McCoy’s enslaved parents, who fled from Kentucky to Canada. And even though there weren’t real trains on the Underground Railroad, their son would grow up to transform the way steam locomotives operated.
McCoy was trained in Scotland as a mechanical engineer, but because Black people could not be hired as engineers in the U.S., the only job he could get was as a fireman and oilman for the Michigan Central Railroad.
In 1872, McCoy registered a patent for his oil-drip cup that helped steam locomotives travel longer distances without overheating or stopping for maintenance. The invention revolutionized the way people and goods moved around North America.
Other inventors tried to copy the oil-drip cup, but none of them worked as well as “the real McCoy.” And after his invention was used in most railroads across North America, he’d go on to hold nearly 60 more patents.
McCoy’s genius revolutionized train travel. His determination and insistence on quality prove that Black innovation is “the real McCoy.”