How This Unsung Black Entrepreneur Changed The Food Industry Forever — And Made A Lot Of Dough

<p>In the 1890s, Joseph Lee, who had been born enslaved, was the owner of the bustling Woodland Park Hotel in Massachusetts. The hotel was the birthplace of Lee’s most important and lasting invention — machines that transformed baking and food preparation for much of the next century. His first, an automated bread-kneading machine, yielded more bread than he and his staff could serve.</p>