Coconuts In Black History And Beyond

Coconuts were part of the standard food provisions aboard slave ships for both the captives AND crew.

 

With this perspective, coconuts are as much a part of the economic history of the New World as cotton and sugar cane.

 

In the 1800s, coconuts were  very profitable for atleast one African-American.

 

 Mr. Ashbourne's Patents for Coconut Oil

 

 

We enjoy using coconut oil with a long shelf life because of Alexander P. Ashbourne. Ashbourne was the first American to realize the economic potential of coconut after the US Civil War.

This African-American was awarded 3 patents for coconut oil production and refining - Patents 163,962 in 1875, 194,287 in 1877 and 230,518 in 1880. 

Here's a link to the 1875  US Patent Office Gazette for Mr. Ashbourne's invention.

Ashbourne was a successful grocer in Philadelphia and Oakland, CA.  Clearly he was a great thinker and tinker: He was awarded numerous patents for a wide range of inventions.

I feel that coconut products can fuel  renewed economic success for the descendants of slaves and everyone else that made it to the Americas and survived and thrived.

One African-American, Alexander P. Ashbourne, has already proved this.

 

The Future Economic Potential for Coconut

New profitable markets for Coconut oil, coconut water and copra commodities are emerging RIGHT NOW in the world's temperate zones-the northern hemispheres. 

 Medical and cosmetic use of Coconut by-products like Dicaprylyl Ether and Caprylic/CapricTriglyceride  are the frontier of a new economy...  partially replacing the use of  black gold.

 

The old Black History may have been nurtured and sustained by coconuts in the dank, dark holds of a slave ships.  But  the future starts now with the coconut palm's solid economic foundation of renewable resources.