Sarah E Goode was born into slavery, yet she became an inventor and an entrepreneur. She gained her freedom near the end of the Civil War and moved to Chicago which led her to her future career as an entrepreneur. Most of her customers were working class and lived in small apartments with not enough room for furniture like beds. So, she created a compromise with her invention of a cabinet bed that was used as a desk with compartments for supplies when folded up. She became the first African American woman to receive a patent for her invention on July 14, 1885.
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