Black Inventor Filed Flying Patent Before Wright Brothers Eight months before the Wright Brothers' historic flight at Kitty Hawk, Charles Frederick Page—a Black man born into slavery—filed a patent for an airship that could've changed aviation history. Page, a self-taught inventor from Pineville, Louisiana, was inspired by dragonflies to create a dual-ballooned airship with propulsion and directional control. He filed his patent on April 24, 1903, and received it on April 10, 1906—making him one