Shreveport, Louisiana native Charles Harrison is known as one of the first African-Americans to succeed in his field of industrial design.
Harrison was a household name at the family of Sears Roebuck & Company for over three decades. He used the expertise taught to him by his father, an industrial arts professor, to build and improve dozens of products for Sears. Because of his father’s profession, Harrison was raised on the campuses of Southern University and Prairie View A&M University where he learned how things work in the campus labs.

In 1963, Harrison developed the first large plastic trash can with a locking lid and rectangular formation. He then dedicated many years to the improvement of simple products like hair dryers, toasters, stereos, lawn mowers, cribs, tractors and sewing machines. He would execute more than 700 designs, all different products, which made a huge impact in the homes of American consumers for decades to come.

Harrison’s most revered piece of work was the redesign of the View-Master toy in 1958, making it easier to use and more sophisticated.

In 2008, Harrison received the lifetime achievement award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum at the Smithsonian Institution. His latest invention is his new book, a memoir called “A Life's Design.”

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TJMS listener Lola Lawrence contacted us about Charles Harrison.

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