28 Days of Little Known Facts About (Black) American History | Emmit McHenry (6)

We are pleased to spotlight Emmit McHenry in day six of our first annual 28 Days of Little Known Facts About (Black) American History

Emmit McHenry is the father of the domain.com

In 1979, Emmit McHenry and a few associates started an engineering company which they named Network Solutions. For 16 years, he and his partners toiled away and built a solid company. They could not get money from any financial institutions so they mortgaged their properties and maxed out their credit cards.
They were good engineers who were awarded with many contracts but the gem within Network Solutions was a contract with the National Science Foundation to create the U.S. Government’s and World first domain name addressing system for the Internet. This was back when the Internet was just a government project, and its commercial potential hadn’t been realized.
Emmit McHenry created a complex computer code whereby ordinary people can now surf the web or have e-mails without studying computer science. He created what we know today simply as .com.
On Dec. 31 1992, Network Solutions got the contract that would make the company a legacy. After the government reviewed several company proposals, The National Science Foundation Department selected Network Solution as manager of domain names registration service for the Internet.

Paul B. Downing is one of America’s great inventors.
In 1891, anyone interested in mailing a letter would have to make the long trip to the post office.
Philip B. Downing designed a metal box with four legs which he patented on October 27, 1891.

He called his device a street letter box and it is the predecessor of today’s mailbox.
Black inventors are historically unsung in being spotlighted for their game changing contributions; many of which have use down to today.

Source: Black Inventor
About The 28 Day Campaign

This informational campaign: 28 Days of Little Known Facts About Black American History will see 540Blog share little known facts about Black Americans throughout history every day throughout the month of February. Those that were groundbreaking and history making but do not necessarily get the media attention and coverage.