Diversity This Decade
Lawrence Jones is Vice President, International Programs at the Edison Electric Institute.
Steve Mitnick is the Executive Editor of Public Utilities Fortnightly and author of Lewis Latimer, The First Hidden Figure.
In the nineteenth of February, back in the year 1881, a hundred and forty years ago, Lewis Latimer applied for his breakthrough patent. "Process for manufacturing carbons," awarded by the U.S. Patent Office on the seventeenth of January of the next year, led the way to the cost-efficient manufacturing of light bulbs by Thomas Edison and rival companies too.
Much more recently, just before the holidays actually, the International Programs group of the Edison Electric Institute hosted "A Conversation About the Legacy of Lewis Latimer." The webinar's interviewer was EEI Vice President Lawrence Jones. And the interviewee was PUF's Steve Mitnick, author of his new book "Lewis Latimer, The First Hidden Figure." Here's a half dozen highlights from that conversation.
EEI's Lawrence Jones: Why now? Why a book about Lewis Latimer?
PUF's Steve Mitnick: What happened in our country, in the United States in the spring, like tens of millions of Americans, I was disgusted. I was moved. I was embarrassed for my country. The realization that came, was that this is not right, and that no longer should we wait to make it right.