Who was the first African American to invent the first air conditioning unit?

Answer 1

Sorry to break this to you, but by any reasonable standard the inventor of the air conditioner (to the extent one can point to a single person as being "the inventor") was white.

Michael Faraday, a white Englishman, pointed out the essential principles in 1820.

Benjamin Franklin (famous American white guy) had worked on a similar matter even earlier.

John Gorrie, of Scottish descent, used the principles to make ice (which he then used to cool air in his hospital) in the 1840s.

The modern air conditioner was invented by Willis Carrier (whose last name, at least, should ring a bell) in the early 20th century. Despite sharing a first name with Arnold's brother on Diff'rent Strokes, Mr. Carrier was also white.

All but one of these (Faraday) could legitimately be considered "American" in that they lived in the US, but none of them could even remotely be considered "African" except in the sense that they were human and many anthropologists believe the human genus originated (many millions of years ago) in Africa.

This sounds like some kind of "African-American History Month" bilgewash that, upon close examination, turns out to be at best a distorted and oversimplified version of the facts. There have been many prominent black inventors and scientists (George Washington Carver, for example); so I don't understand why some people feel the need to exaggerate or make stuff up.

It seems entirely plausible that there was some black inventor who was the first to do something involving air conditioning, but phrasing it in such a way to imply that he was solely and personally responsible for air conditioning in general is simply wrong.

Answer 2

Frederick McKinley Jones, an African American inventor, is credited with inventing the first air conditioning unit for trucks in the 1930s. His invention was crucial in preserving perishable goods during transportation.