NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A new museum dedicated to Black inventors and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education is scheduled to open in 2026.
“Building this museum has been a long time coming,” James Howard, BIHOF executive director told 1010 WINS. “Expenditure aims to reveal a story in many layers.”
The idea to open the Black Inventors Hall of Fame Museum came from Howard who observed the absence of any Black inventors on the cover of a special issue of the Times magazine, which featured the top 100 inventors in America.
“Naturally, on the front cover, they have Thomas Edison, they have Henry Ford, Nikola Tesla and all that, (but) there’s not a single black face on the front cover,” Howard told Mosaic.
Inside the magazine, he found small references to Dr. Daniel Hill Williams and Dr. Charles Drew, two Black surgeons who revolutionized medical practices.
However, the general lack of recognition for Black inventors in the magazine resonated with him and in one of his interviews about his career, he was asked why there are no museums dedicated to those inventor of Black.
“I didn’t have an answer for him and then he said to me, ‘Why don’t you start a Black Inventors Hall of Fame Museum,’ I slept on that, and three months later, I started the Black Inventors Hall of Fame. Museum,” Howard said.
The museum will be a 31,000-square-foot facility and will have state-of-the-art classrooms, a theater, a Metaverse library, a startup incubator, and a Legends Hall.
The purpose of the museum is to highlight the achievements of Black inventors, especially from the Golden Era of the United States.
“We know our basic program needs in terms of key features such as a 150-seat theater, a learning center, three to four large exhibition halls, and the identity of those halls, ” explained the executive director and founder of the museum, who is also known as Howard. He further emphasized, “Through three halls, we will get a chance to tell the deep and wide story of the African American inventor, and we will do it like no one else has done.”
The museum plans to display three main exhibition halls named after prominent Black inventors: Granville T. Wood Hall of Telecommunications and Technology, the Elijah J. McCoy Hall of Transportation and Agriculture Technology, and the Dr. Patricia Bath Hall in Medicinal Science and Health.
Howard also mentioned the inclusion of 36 permanent exhibits and a rotating temporary space, which allows for a wide range of exhibits.
The museum’s budget is estimated at $27 million, with $18 million already secured, including a $13 million pledge from an anonymous donor.
Howard, who also teaches design at the University of Texas at Austin, is actively involved in fundraising efforts for the museum.
Currently, the museum is in the preliminary planning stages, with a final decision on its location in Newark or Morristown pending.
