American journalist, editor, and inventor born in rural Petersburg, Virginia, who invented and patented a tabulating machine (1905) and a adding machine (1913). In Detroit he published and edited Plain-Dealer, one of the most successful newspapers in the American Midwest. After leaving the farm because of racism, his family lived in Columbus, Ohio, went to Philadelphia, and finally settled in Detroit, Michigan. While in elementary school he was a newsboy for the Detroit Post and when he completed high school, he went to work in the production of the newspaper.
Then he teamed up with his brother to publish a weekly called Venture, then the Plaindealer news, a newspaper aimed at the black community in the North American Midwest, publishing contributions by authors such as Frederick Douglass, John Lynch, John Bruce, Blanche Bruce, and Ida Wells Barnett. He became a successful journalist and became involved in politics to better defend black rights. He was hired by the Detroit Internal Revenue Office (1884), appointed inspector in Detroit (1887) and delegate to the Republican National Convention (1888), becoming a leader of African politics American
He was hired by the United States Census Bureau in Washington, DC (1900), staying there for 37 years. In his new job, he felt the need to count and tabulate census information in order to speed up the work. So he invented a tabulating machine (1905 and a counting machine (1913), both duly patents, which greatly facilitated his work and that of all his colleagues, until the appearance of computers. During this period he earned a law degree from Howard University. He withdrew from the U.S. Census Bureau, returned to publishing African newspapers, and founded a new agency, Capital News Services, Inc (1938). He died of a heart attack at his home in Washington, DC, and his body was buried in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery.
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order R - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/robert-pelham-jr.htm
