The term “the Real McCoy” is more than just a catch phrase. Since it first started being used more than a century ago, it has also been a signal of quality as well as an affirmation of the intellect and perseverance of Elijah McCoy, a man whose legacy is a source of pride not only for black Canadians, but for all descendants of North American chattel slavery. Elijah McCoy was a famous inventor and engineer who was born in Canada, grew up in the United States, studied in Scotland, and made great contributions to manufacturing and locomotive industries around the world. The third of twelve children, he was born in the mid-1840s (historians cannot be certain whether his year of birth was 1843 or 1844) in Colchester, Ontario, to George McCoy and Mildred McCoy (née Goins), two escaped slaves from Kentucky. When Elijah was a young child, the McCoys returned to the United States. They settled in Michigan, and his father found work in the logging industry. Blacks in the United States had a hard time obtaining mechanical training, so Elijah, who exhibited an aptitude in that area, went to Scotland to study Mechanical Engineering. When he returned, despite his qualifications, he was unable to work as a mechanical engineer in either Southwest Ontario or Michigan, and so he began working for the Michigan Central Railroad as a fire man and oiler. As a fire man, his main job was to fuel the steam engines of trains; his duties as an oiler included lubricating the train’s moving … [Read more...]