In 1920, the 19th amendment was passed by Congress and ratified; guaranteeing all American women the right to vote.
Now 100 years later, women are CEOs, Senators, Congresspersons, stay at home moms, working moms, artists, writers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, inventors, scientists, mathematicians, the list goes on and on.
In this Kick-Ass Women, we are highlighting an inventor who never received any recognition for her inventions during her lifetime but made all women’s lives a little easier.
Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner had a mind for inventing even early on. Her inventions always helped people. Her most famous invention was the sanitary belt. Before then women used rags and toilet paper as menstrual products.
Kenner invented the sanitary belt in the 1920s but wasn’t able to get a patent until 30 years later. The diagram for her patent showed a belt that sits around the waist and two straps that clip at either end of a large pad. “The revelation of this was that the pad would stay in place.” Later Kenner updated her invention to include a “moisture proof napkin pocket” making it more spill proof.
Her invention did gain some interest until the company found out she was black, “One day I was contacted by a company that expressed an interest in marketing my idea. Sorry to say, when they found out I was black, their interest dropped. The representative went back to New York and informed me the company was no longer interested.”
Inventing ran in her family. Her maternal grandfather invented a “tricolor light signal to guide trains”. Her sister, Mildred Davidson Austin Smith created a family board game called “Family Treedition”. Their father patented a travel size pants presser.
During World War II, Mary worked for the Census Bureau, and later for the General Accounting Office. She also chaperoned younger women who attended dances at military bases in the Washington, DC, area. During one of these dances she met a soldier and fell in love. They married but divorced 5 years later. Around that same time she left her government job and opened a flower shop.
In 1951, she married James Kenner. They sold the flower shop in 1970 and moved to Virginia. They became foster parents to five boys, one of which they adopted.
Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner never stopped inventing. She successfully filed five patents, more than any other African American woman in history. She never received any money from her inventions but she was proud that her invention would make life easier for people.
Other Patents and Inventions
- Special attachment for a walker or wheelchair that included a hard surfaced tray and soft pocket for carrying items.
- An attachment for the toilet-paper holder which would give people easy access to the loose end of a roll
- A back washer or massager that could easily be mounted on a shower wall or a bathtub
- Disposable ashtray holder that attaches to the cigarette package
- Convertible top for the hidden bench seats of that time
Amazing! Thanks for telling us about Mary!