Dr. Jerry, you got the whole world waiting.
Been ready for you to start the conversation.
No point of view.
We've got the haters confused.
Leave it up to you to bring us all the good news.
Positive five lives and the six appeal to Dr. Andre Jerry.
Can I get an interview?
View, view, view, view, view, view, view, view, view, view.
Hello everybody.
Good evening and welcome to a special holiday episode of live with
Dr. Andre Jerry.
I appreciate you sharing an hour of your evening with me,
supporting this broadcast, and the artist's first network.
So today is Thanksgiving Eve and I have a fun fact about today
that I don't think many people know about.
Did you know that the day before Thanksgiving is also known as
Blackout Wednesday or drinksgiving?
So apparently because most people are off tomorrow, Thanksgiving Eve
is widely known as the biggest binge drinking night of the year.
Why am I just now finding out about this?
All these years I could have had a legit reason to binge drink
during the holidays and I missed out.
Well anyway, if you're indulging tonight, enjoy yourself,
have a drink for me, and of course drink responsibly.
Listen, we have a great show tonight.
My guest and I will be discussing education, innovation, entrepreneurship,
and black history and know we don't have to wait until February
to talk about black history.
Black history is woven throughout the fabric of this great country
and it's always a relevant topic.
But when we think about historic black figures, we often think about
the Titans, the MLKs, the Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman,
Hank Aaron and Muhammad Ali.
And yes, we know that these are prominent figures that have left
an indelible imprint on American society and we salute them.
But tonight, however, we are honoring the legacy of an unsung historic
black inventor whose groundbreaking invention that was patented in the 1920s
impacted an entire industry and is still widely used today.
Our guest today is the grandson of this unsung innovator
and the author of the best-selling new book,
honoring his grandfather's legacy entitled, Unsung, but Forever Remembered,
The Man Who Invented the Automobile Turn Signal, David G. Bond.
Please help me.
Welcome to the show, Dr. Stephen Bond.
How are you doing this, even my friends?
I'm doing awesome.
How are you doing, Dr. Jerry?
Oh, I'm doing great.
I'm doing great.
Listen, thank you so much for making time to be on the show today.
I know you and I have been planning this since September.
So I'm excited to finally have you on the show.
And I want to jump right in because we have a lot to touch on.
But first, why don't you just go ahead and tell our listeners a little bit
about yourself and your background?
Sure. Well, I'm Dr. Stephen Bond.
I was originally born in New York, Queens, New York, and I was raised on
Island, New York, and I lived in Florida for 10 years.
And then I moved to North Carolina nine years ago after my parents passed away.
And so I've been educated now for the last 23 years.
And education is something that's dear to my heart.
I love teaching.
I love education.
I love just the idea of education where I believe that every student can learn.
I love being in the classroom.
I love making classwork and just being in class, entertaining, engaging, and fun.
You know, I've been known to dress up in different outfits.
I've known to be outside of boxes, some people like to say.
And I just love teaching in general.
For most of my teacher, I've taught social studies or jobs in social studies,
American history, world history, civics, economics, and AP history and government classes.
And I've also taught ELA for about a decade.
And I've taught science, physical science and chemistry.
And so I just love just teaching, you know, some about teaching to have a passion for and just energy for.
And the great thing about it is it's infectious to the students.
And I think what makes me stand out as a teacher is that I love to teach.
I love what I do.
I love teaching the children and I love just when I see the students get it and understand the concepts and ideas.
And what's amazing is that even though I've been doing this for over 20 years, most of the students that I did teach,
I still report them today.
They follow me on social media.
They are some of our teachers as well.
Some of them became lawyers.
And I say, Dr. Bond, I remember when you just missed the bond and, you know, you taught me in government class,
you suggested the judge and we did court cases or they're maybe teed by the mill ages and have a, you know, a wig on my head and just being king here in the eighth.
And so that love that I get is just amazing.
And so that's just a little bit about me.
Education is a big part of me.
I'm also an author.
I do consulting.
I do trainings on teaching social studies and language arts, keeping it relevant, keep it engaged and keeping it fun.
And also not just sitting in the classroom for a whole hour where you can't talk or move around.
To me, learning deals with movement, music, listening, poetry.
It's a whole plethora of ways to learn and more teachers I feel need to go that route.
Right. Absolutely.
And this is, I want to tip my hat to you and into all of our educators in the public school system, but especially our black male educators,
because as you know, only 2% of the nation's teachers are black males.
So to, you know, to say that you're an underrepresented demographic among educators is just really a gross understatement.
And I admire the passion and the engagement and the fun that you bring to your learning.
And I'm sure your students embrace, you know, having a black man as their teacher because it's just not very common.
So I can imagine how well received you are by your students.
Do you have a couple of stories that you can tell us about your experiences with students who have embraced your style of teaching?
Sure. I have one student and what's amazing is that this young man, he's one of the reasons why the book was printed.
I taught him back in 2007.
I was a history teacher and before that point, I don't believe he had an African American male teacher, you know, with few and far in between.
And so I told him in geography, you know, we have different things we did in class.
I would dress up and I would do activities like, you know, we would write in different languages.
So we were right like in Greek, right in Hebrew, right in different languages.
You know, even when we did African history.
And so that really just made the learning fun.
And so what's amazing is that he still follows me.
And when before I wrote my last book, he was one of the reasons why I was on Twitter one day and this young man follows me.
And they were doing the post about little known black history facts, little known inventors.
And he puts in a post, he said, I want Dr. Stephen Bond to tell a story by his grandfather how he invented signal light for cars.
But he told us back in like 2007.
I was like, wow, he remembers me telling that story.
And so what's amazing is that it really made me to say, you know what, I need to really write the story.
You know, I've written stuff.
I was like, now is the time I said this boy put on blast as the kids like to say, I said, you know what, he really inspired me.
I said, no, I really got working it because when he did the post, a whole bunch of people commented.
And I was like, it is true. And, you know, I hate when people without it.
So I sent the picture of my grandfather and I didn't want to send because what happened later on, I did find his patent.
But I told him, I said, my grandfather, David George Bond, they have a patent for it.
And I said, you know what, now I really have to do the research and do the work for this book.
And he was one of the inspirations I had.
And there's a couple of other young people who I taught a one year man. He named Rafael and I taught him in sixth and seventh grade.
And I was just coaching him and fly football years ago back in 2006.
And, you know, he's a great kid. And, you know, I taught him not just social studies, but I taught him life lessons about being humble.
You know, even when you play a sport, be humble.
You know, just remember it's a team, not just you. And then found out a few years later, you know, at the Moodle out Florida, he's one of the top wide receivers in the country.
And, you know, I follow he's like, Coach Bond, Mr. Bond, you're one of the reasons why I became the humble athlete I am today.
Because one year I actually rep man had kicked him off the team for a while.
And I'm gonna let make sure he is a story. And then, you know, he said to me, he, you know, he said, Mr. Bond, you're one of the reasons why I am today humble and a leader and not selfish.
And I'm a humble man. And he won't get in the scholarship. He went to community college and then he played for the University of Pitt.
For a couple years with a lead wide receiver for two straight years.
And he had a little semi pro league and he's doing well. And, you know, just to see how he grew and mature.
So I'm in some football game, like, wow, you, you just swore you built do he was like, you know, he said he thanked me and other teachers.
And so one day I was asking him is I would say, well, what is your GPA? Yes, and then you put the numbers up, but what's your GPA?
And he was all ACC as academic or America, because it's great. And those are stories.
That's why I get to teach it, because those are kids you root for. And also I've had students who dealt with different learning disabilities.
It could have been dyslexia or ADHD or autism. And to see when they get older that they thrive in society, that they become teachers and doctors and lawyers.
It's just amazing. See one young lady I taught in her name is Carmen. Yeah, I can say today and she is now she got Dr. Pharmacy.
And I remember when I taught her back in six, seven, eight grade, ain't no, we teach someone you're like, she's going to go places.
She's a smart love to learn and she was to learn the English language, but she knew like this girl's going to be somebody.
And to see her now being a pharmacist, graduating with a doctor degree is like, wow, I remember when this girl's in my class and I remember teaching her and you just saw greatness in these students.
And so those are a few of the stories that have been educated and especially when they remember you, you're like, well, you remember me and I taught you in 04 and 05 and 06 and so, and even up to a few years ago.
And that's one of the reasons why you teach, because just when you know you've had an impact on people, you know, we have an unsum profession, but there are no doctors, lawyers, teachers, physicians.
So, we had no education, no need, no need jobs unless they had a teacher that helped them along the way.
That's absolutely true. And I want to circle back to something that you mentioned. You mentioned that some of your students have learning disorders such as dyslexia and ADHD and and perhaps some other learning disorders that kind of inhibit their ability to learn
students do, what are some of the challenges that you see that these students face and
how do you kind of level the playing field for them so that they have the same opportunity
to learn as the other students?
Usually what's interesting, more than anything, is that they need that confidence instilled
in them because many times what happened for so long, people gave up on them.
Some kind of parents gave up on them.
Sometimes teachers have gave up on them because kids know when you believe in them.
Kids know when you care.
I give affirmations sometimes, like sometimes for a test, they'll have affirmations with
us saying, I'm great, I will be great because greatness is in me.
And sometimes if I see them feeling a little bit low, I'm going to say, don't get you,
I've got greatness in you.
Don't get you're wonderful, you're especially made.
And that goes a long way.
So usually that's the first battle, mentally, letting them realize that they're just as
capable.
And one of the strategies I do is I've never been a teacher where you have to sit down
and be quiet for the whole period.
Back then you move around too much, oh, we're writing you up.
What do I do?
And so you learn that kids learn by not just reading, but by writing, by listening, hearing
music.
And so I have my students write poems.
I have them write plays.
I have them listen to music.
I have them do things which make the learning process more engaging.
I have kids do journaling and journaling is a great device because many times students
will, but they have good rapport that teacher they'll discuss and say, you know what, I
do have self esteem issues.
I do follow myself.
So many kinds of mental battle is the first battle that you have to tackle with these
young students.
And then what happens, I tell them what's ADHD, dyslexia or what have you.
Remember what strategy was best for you.
Like if you have ADHD, read, take a little break, you know, calm your nerves, take deep
breath and then go from there.
And what I also do, I do let kids walk around.
You know, they can dance, take a stretch out and that helps with the flow of the blood,
but also where it's not monotony.
So it does not feel like work.
And many times they'll say, dog, your class go by so fast.
I said, I know.
And I say, it's why because I segmented, you know, we'll read maybe silently for 10 minutes.
But if you do that, you get a break for three minutes.
So if you walk around, let's get around.
And those were not loud, you can do it.
And so those little things help all those students.
And why I tell students that, but that's your strategy was best for you reading, you know,
with some students, you know, have organizers with Venn diagrams or graphs or what have
you works well.
I'll let kids write it in their own way.
You know, if they want to write a poem about it, let them, if they want to sing or give
different references, you let them do that.
And also when I would dress up and do other things, one, it makes the class more interesting.
And that goes along way with classroom management and making it interesting.
But what I tell the students is find out what's your best few because I'm ADHD and I didn't
learn that till my late thirties.
And it was like, wow, it makes sense.
That's why I understood these students because that was me.
And so I let them know my battles.
I let them know when I had teachers write me off and say I was slow or just different
or a medium.
And I just would tell them, I said, I'm not going to give up for you.
And I tell them, whatever strategy works best for you.
Because you can be a medicine, but medicine can only do so much.
I said, learn what style works for you.
What style, you know, if you're visual and you learn by visual stuff that you to be can
help you just as much as I can.
That TikTok video where we were talking about the APARTS of speech, you can learn that way.
That video we did about the Egyptians, what they invented, you're watching it, you're
listening, you laugh about the same time you're learning.
And so learning is also can be entertaining in a good way.
And so I've learned those are devices.
Sometimes let the students say, you know, you're going to teach a class.
No words, you're going to do the skill.
You're going to do the play.
You're going to decide how I'm going to learn this activity.
You know, and so we retain more of the lesson when they participate in that matter.
Right.
They sure do.
Because, you know, I'll be honest, sometimes teachers are scared to let kids do that thing.
They're scared that the class going to get rambunctious and off the chain.
And so they play to conserve it.
And it's like, you know, when you coach this boy and you go for the juggler, you say, you
know, I'm just going to be reckless.
Sometimes you guys just be a little reckless.
They know what they're learning.
That's fine.
I did this way.
They're drawing, you know, they're cutting things out.
They're making word walls.
It's working.
Let them do it.
Let them, as long as they behave improperly.
Nothing to do it.
You know, if they want to give a speech, let them give a speech.
Now there's certain rules in language we're not going to tolerate, but I want to hear
their opinion, you know, and that's what helps, you know, letting those kids become individuals
and in a lot of ways teach themselves.
I'm giving them just like the template for what they need, but they're digging in and
researching for themselves.
They're making the work for themselves.
Like in my world history class, we're going over the Greeks.
And so I love how the Greek alphabet.
Next thing I have one student, she wrote a whole paragraph in Greek letters.
I said, by what you read, it says, listen, Greek is not my first language.
I have to read this slowly and surely, but what these students are doing, they're making
their own paragraphs.
They're doing their own work.
They're like, we can make our own place.
And that empowers the students and what they remember more, anything else.
Because I gave them that liberty.
Like they know I'm fun, but I'm firm.
I give a certain structure.
You know, they're not going to say what they want.
They're not going to misbehave.
Cause I teach manners, they're going to say, yes, sir, yes, ma'am.
You're not going to say if I call them and they say what?
No, it's yes.
Not what.
And so I saw that old school in me being 48 years old and they get that from me.
And so teaching is not just in that book or on that website.
It's that life lesson persevering.
And I told a few students today, I said, you persevered, you read that, you read that prompt.
You know, you may have been a little frustrated with some of the words trying to pronounce
it.
You may have got a little track, you know, maybe for a little hyper or, you know, just
a little disoriented or lack of focus.
But I said, you bounce back.
And that's what it's about.
And many times those are the smart students.
The ones on the spectrum, dyslexia, ADHD, they had to creativity.
And you have to let that creativity bloom and blossom.
Because what happened many times, teachers would try to inhibit them.
Oh, no, you can't do it.
No, you can't do it that way.
Let them do it their way.
Absolutely.
Don't be rigid.
Yeah.
Because every student learns differently.
And I wish more teachers, especially when I was coming up in school, it's like every
teacher wanted to force students to learn the exact same way.
And you really do your students a disservice when you do that.
You really do.
I remember I got this come as a teacher and as a student.
I did my math problems and did a certain way.
I did it which made sense to me.
And they would say, Stevie, you're doing it not the way you're supposed to.
You're doing it wrong.
And then I said, well, if I'm doing it the way that is my way, but it's working, what's
the problem?
And I remember I worked in one school and a principal would just see the things we did
in class.
And she said, Mr. Bond, you're just outside the box.
And I said it in a fun way, but a little bit sarcastic.
I said, I was never in the box.
I said, it couldn't keep me out of the box.
And I mean that because while saying not to be mean to the principal, while saying is
I've always been different and unconventional as a student.
And I'm unconventional as a teacher.
I'm going to do it a little differently, but guess what, not only the results just as good,
but sometimes the results are greater because those kids have learned.
And so when you take them outside the box and don't restrain them and they understand
that confidence that they get, they realize they're learning for themselves.
They're making their own things.
They're creating.
And when you look at Bloom's taxonomy, the higher thinking is when you evaluate, you're
processing, you're making things.
That's what it's all about.
And don't be afraid to let the students build their own thing.
And those are the things to me as an edge kid that stick out.
And one of the things I'm most proud of was when I wrote Perseverance in a Strange Land
and that was the best of them both sold in six different countries.
I only wrote the introduction to the book.
Yes.
It sold in France, in Germany, England, Australia, and in Canada.
Even now people buy the book and what's unique about the book is when COVID and the school
here in 2020 and George Floyd was murdered.
I told the kids in class just right about what you feel.
I'll tell them if you're angry, if you're ticked off, you know, just using expertise,
but right how you feel.
And so that was a general exercise, really.
Exactly.
At first, you know, I wasn't going right to a book, I just wanted to know how they're
feeling because some students need to have access to a computer.
I would say, hey, text me your journal, what you feel.
Some day I computer, so I said, text it to me, email it to me, whatever you can.
And so I saw reading some of those journals and I was like, wow, they wrote some powerful
stuff.
You know, some students that we missed the social norms of school, not having a prom,
not having a field trip, not seeing teachers.
And I once do, he said, I miss the structure of a classroom.
And sometimes we think kids are on discipline, but anytime kids want you to put them in check
as long as they're respectful.
And so I remember a young woman leave our hero, I miss the structure of a classroom
where the teacher is teaching, delegating, but it's a structure where they always get
at home.
No, some students say, you know, just go into a restaurant, get something to eat, getting
a haircut is something that we took for granted.
Going to a prom, even for teachers, we like the prom and wish the students all when they
graduate those things that we used to sing.
And even teachers were miserable because of it.
And so some of the kids who play sports, they said, you know, my life is different because
I can't play ball.
You know, ball was the football basketball.
These were sports that kept me motivated to do well in school.
Now it's gone.
And some students said, I miss my favorite teachers.
I miss my coaches.
I miss my teachers I like.
And then when I had the chapter with George Floyd, I asked students black, white and biracial
and in between say, and injustice happened on TV that we just saw.
So it took a picture and it recorded, but it wasn't my black or white.
It was about something was wrong.
Yes, you could say race, but the point was that something was done wrong and people,
young people saying something had to be done.
And so they wrote that before, you know, the case was finished.
But here's what they were seeing.
They were out of school for COVID.
So they're at home, they're bored, depressed, miserable.
And now they see this happened with George Floyd and they're Lady Brianna Teller because
that didn't come in the news till weeks later.
And so these kids remember that they felt the trauma and, you know, look back now, it
was very hard for these students.
Depression was big anxiety is big.
Because at first they said, oh, we'll get some clothes for a few weeks school.
Oh, what because the month?
Oh, no, we're going to close for the whole year.
And that just was tough.
I have one girl named Laura McCoy and she had a mom's a nurse.
She said the hard part for me is that when my mother comes home, I can't hug my mother
because she's been around these turns.
If I hugged her, she gets sick and it was hurting for her because she's that type.
She likes to hug.
She holds a parent, you hug her teachers, you know, and so the little things that hug
your mother when she gets off work.
One young man, his dad had a heart issue.
So he's like, I can't be around my dad because if I get COVID or if I'm around him, he has
a pre-existing health condition.
He gets sick and he has a heart condition.
He probably going to die.
So this was this was the platform for when that book was written.
And that little part where I put word search in the puzzles and just to keep people getting
bored.
And I get a little history biography, many biographies like not just Martin Luther King,
but also someone unsung.
Like for example, Shirley Chisholm, who my mother met years ago, how she ran for president,
you know, how she worked in Congress, you know, the ones you'll hear about often in
the news.
So like a mecca of efforts to was assassinate.
Now where's some of the unsung people that you'll hear about in the movements because
yes, great here by Martin Luther King, great here by Malcolm X, but what about the ones
who also paved the way, but history doesn't always talk about much.
And that's I'm glad I put a little biographies in the book of May Jemisin know the first
African American female astronaut.
So a little biography on hers.
So people that you may not hear about on a day to day basis, I did little biographies
of them for the accomplishment and the relevance in history.
So I love that this book, not the one that we're featuring tonight, but Perciven in a
strange land, your first book, I love that you use this as an opportunity to allow the
kids to journal and write about stuff that they were seeing in the news, stuff that they
were feeling traumatized by stuff that has been impacting them.
And a lot of them had an opportunity since they were at home a lot to reflect and think
about some of the things that they maybe used to complain about, which was the structure
and the rules.
But when you take that away, you know, the students are able to reflect and see the value
in some of that structure that the teachers and the school provides for them.
So this was a great exercise and I love that you published it.
And I definitely want the readers to go on to Amazon and whatever other platforms that
you have this book, Perciven in a Strange Land, you'll get to hear and read about stories
that really are touching and that have impacted students in a way that kind of help heal them
and get them through those transitional periods.
Right now we're going to continue this conversation in a moment, but right now I want to take a
quick commercial break and when we return, we're going to talk more with Dr. Stephen
Bond about his new book and his grandfather's legacy.
So stay tuned and we'll be right back.
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Hey, Yovonne, throw the 808 on that one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I told my wife and my mama I would only let that pain strengthen me.
It's making me stronger.
And I know I am the way I am, cause of all of them traumatic experiences.
I've been through some trauma.
I'm ready for hell finally, I'm ready to listen now.
I wasn't ready then.
I just wasn't ready.
I know it took a while for me to actually wanna smile more, but I've been trying to be a better man.
And I'm getting better again.
I kept my head above water when it felt like I was gonna drown.
Absolutely nowhere to go.
I had nobody around.
Overwhelmed by the pain, it's suffocated by doubt.
Man, it's just crazy to think that I still found a way out.
I did it on my own too.
Who am I kidding?
Gotta thank my wife cause I couldn't have done it without you.
And I thank God every single day that I found you.
If I die today, then the legacy is what I leave behind.
But I promise baby you gon' be just fine.
I hope we got time for a reach that line.
Cross that line and leave this life.
I know a whole lot that be on your mind.
Be hard for you to even think sometimes.
But we know that time is coming, we can't avoid it.
I just wanna live in the moment cause life is short.
I told my wife and my mama I would only let that pain strike to me.
It's making me stronger.
And I know I am the way I am cause of all of them traumatic experiences.
I've been through some trauma.
I'm ready for hell finally, I'm ready to listen now.
I wasn't ready then.
I just wasn't ready.
I know it took a while for me to ask you wanna smile more.
But I've been trying to be a better man.
And I'm getting better.
I do wanna hold you tight and fall to sleep in your arms.
And any problems we face, they cannot go unreserved.
I would trade my life for your happiness in the beat of a heart.
You were the lights in my path.
You helped me see in the dark and I found my way home.
It all started off by you telling me I need to stay strong.
I have every right to feel the way I do and that I ain't wrong.
But my feelings can't be expressed through my anger.
Man, when I tell you I've been blessed with an angel,
she keeps it real and she tells it.
Her presence is angelic.
Her love is my drug.
Her love is my psychedelic.
Girl, I need you forever.
I hope my souls live forever.
And I don't know how that works.
But God, I sure hope you let it.
I told my wife and my mama I would only let that pain strike to me.
It's making me stronger.
And I know I am the way I am because of all of them traumatic experiences.
I've been through some trauma.
I'm ready for help finally.
I'm ready to listen now.
I wasn't ready then.
I just wasn't ready.
I know it took a while for me to ask you want to smile more.
But I've been trying to be a better man.
And I'm getting better.
I know it took a while for me to ask you want to smile more.
But I've been trying to be a better man.
And I'm getting better.
I'm ready for help finally.
I'm ready to listen now.
I wasn't ready then.
I just wasn't ready.
You're back live with Dr. Andre Giri.
Hey everyone, welcome back to the show.
So you just finished listening to the brand new track by independent artist Jill Brown
and titled Better.
Produced by Vaughn Make Hits and is now available on all streaming platforms.
And I want to congratulate Jill Brown on the success of his new single which is now being
played on Red 94.5 and Lincoln, Nebraska and now other stations across the country.
But remember you heard him first right here on artist first radio network.
And if you're an author, entrepreneur or independent artist who'd like your latest
project featured on our show, send my team an email at livewithdoctorandrejiri at gmail.com
and we'll get you set up.
Now if you're just joining us, our guest today is Dr. Steven Bond who is an educator
and author of the best selling new book unsung but forever remembered which is a story which
honors the legacy of the man who invented the turn signal David G Bond who also happens to
be his grandfather.
So before the show we talked a little bit about your background as an educator in some of the
ways that you engage your students and your passion for learning.
In this segment I want to talk more about your book.
But first before we get into the book, tell us a little bit about your grandfather David George
Bond, his background and why it was important for you to preserve his legacy.
Thank you Dr. Jerry.
My grandfather was David George Bond.
He was a simple but intelligent man from the country in Low County in North Carolina called
Bertie and he lived in Windsor, North Carolina.
And so he was a man that did not have much formal education really until he went and went to
an all-byte boarding school in Mawton County, North Carolina.
And so before that time he just worked in a sharecropping farm.
You know, hogs and peanuts, tobacco and cotton.
And so as he go up to the boarding school he has a vision that says you know what
cars should have single lights because back then cars that have single lights you had to
stick your arm out the single left right, no the signal.
Also the brake lights were not lighting up when you slowed down.
So my grandfather at the age of 16 started venting a signal light to cars, the blinker.
And so he got materials from the school, he working in when he was doing his vocation classes
and just be up building it.
And then he got to a point where he had it working where if you pressed it, you know,
when you pressed the light it was single left right.
And so it also would have a brake light.
And so what he did he had his sister which was my great aunt do an application to have a patent
for it.
And so at the age of 20 he had a patent March 3rd, 1927.
And he had one of the first original patents for the signal light.
And here's that all the parts the signal for left and right blinking and also a brake light.
And so to make this invention at the age of 20 was phenomenal.
He had blueprint on how it would look, how it would work, step by step by step.
And what he also did because you know this was a Jim Crow South,
he made sure he went through the proper protocol.
He made sure that he applied for it like he was supposed to give that information for each part.
And then he had signed off on it and he had a lawyer sign off for as well as lawyer name was Larry Lacey.
And because I did about three or four months of research to find out about this patent.
And so in March of 1927, it was officially considered a patent by US government and he had a patent
number as well.
So the US patent number for the invention, he had the drawings,
destination for it just like any other patent has now even when you invent something.
Now the issue came where patents expired have expiration dates almost like a driver's license.
Now 40 in the Jim Crow South, he was not able to
no sell it to one of the big companies like GM was around at the time.
He would not even sell it to a big company.
And so along with that, he was not able to benefit financially from it.
And as time went on, when it was time for the patent to expire,
he was trying to get money, raise money to renew it.
And so he tried and tried, and to be my aunt, which was his oldest daughter who's still alive,
she's 85, he went to three banks in Berty County.
They all rejected him and he was hurt by it because
nowadays you have good events, you go to a show like Shark Tank, they'll fund you the money.
And even, you know, you're still get a substantial amount.
So even when you watch Shark Tank, you know, there's so many ideas, but they're still getting
millions for it.
So he kept looking, kept looking.
He's trying to find people that to help them.
And he even went up to people, my aunt told me, he said,
if you're half with it, argue half the profit.
And they also be careful because one, people try stills idea.
Two, being African-American male in the Jim Crow South, whether we're lynchings in the
counties nearby, as I did the research, there were lynchings in the counties nearby him.
Martin County, he had lynchings, even Pasquitain County and the other counties in Eastern
Carolina had lynchings in the last few years.
So as African-American male, you have to be really careful.
So, unfortunately, very, very, and he, yes, and he disclosed discreetly that he did get
some threatening letters.
Now, there was some good letters where people didn't want to buy,
wanted attempted to buy the invention, but you have to be careful because if too many people
knew about it in a small town, they would try to kill them before they could describe it.
And it was told that my aunt, they did get some harassing letters saying they would try to
threaten to kill his children.
And he voted for Tom.
So they said, well, we'll kill your 10 children.
And my grandfather was scared of people.
Yeah, it's sad.
And so he was like, well, I'm not scared of anyone, but how do you people know I got 10 children?
And so he laid back a little bit.
No, he never showed a letter to anyone.
And so the patent expired.
Now, the one thing which might be my next book is I would definitely like to know who did buy
the patent and got the money compensation for the invention.
And for me, there's no bitterness, none at all.
My question is, I just want to know because more than anything, I just want my grandfather
to be invindicated.
In other words, I want to pick up a book of inventors, not just Black History Month.
And I wanted to say David George Bond had a patent for the signal light for cars.
So get the credit.
So not about money, but I'm curious.
I would like to know who brought it because, you know, obviously had to pay for it.
And they had the money for it where my grandfather didn't.
And so the great part of the story is that he was never bitter.
He was resilient.
He raised 10 children and then they were on adopted.
A young girl that was abandoned at a Greyhound bus station.
And he named her, well, my grandparents, name her Priscilla Gail Bond.
My grandmother's name was Priscilla's and she got the last name Bond.
So here's a male kid.
Did she still live in Dr. Bond, Priscilla?
No, unfortunately, she did pass.
Several years ago, she did pass.
Well, yeah, it is sad.
And one reason why I had that urgency to write this is because most of his children have passed.
Right now, currently only two of his children.
One is my uncle William, who's in Germany, Mannheim, Germany, and my auntie who lives in
Windsor, North Carolina, near Bible, this occurred.
And so the other nine, my dad included with that, his past and he passed two years ago.
So I really have such an urgency to get this done.
While at least some of them were alive for my auntie, a copy of the book in her hand.
And it cries a nephew.
This is like for my father.
And she cried about it.
I was like, yes, auntie, this is for y'all.
That was your day.
That's my grandfather.
Who I saw, but that was your father.
And so I'm glad this to be put in the book.
And I even put down all 11 of his children in the book, their names and everything.
Because I felt they deserve that because here he give up on life.
He still raised children.
He's still at businesses.
He would know self fertilizer and is farming and he left this earth.
He built a house in 1956 from the ground up.
So he's a built a house that's still owned by the bond family.
And it's still in Windsor, North Carolina.
So it's a story that instead of tragedy, he's persistent, persevering in triumphs
and raised 10 children who were doing, who did well for themselves, you know, or 11.
And grandchildren who are leading the bond legacy and are doing well and want to honor him
by having his book written on his behalf.
And so I'm just honored that this was able to be printed when I found his patent.
I have like a three month Google search patent search, nationwide search and every other type
of search.
I was like, amen, I found it.
What does name on it?
What the patent number on it?
What is drawing with the signature?
Because you have the verges signature.
I like, wow.
Is it awesome?
I've searched through Google patents and, you know, that's a lot of information to way through.
So the fact that you put all this research together and was able to find this stuff is just remarkable.
Well, thank you, Dr. Jerry.
There were times when, you know, I was to be up late two, three in the morning just trying to figure
out, just trying to find it.
I'm like, okay, I got to keep looking.
I got to keep looking.
And that was my motivation as well.
But it took a long time.
You know, times I was like, you know what?
I'm just giving up.
But I was like, I can't.
I can find it.
And so when I did, to me, that was the biggest accomplishment to find it because we have a
US patent number.
It doesn't matter who bought it.
It still has that number and a person who originally had it named on it.
So it has to David George Vaughn, Leibniz Quitsna, North Carolina.
And the date it was submitted January 1926.
And the date it was officially confirmed as a legal patent, March 3rd, 1927.
So for me, it is an honor.
So you were 20 years old when the patent got approved?
Yes, he's 20 years old.
That's it.
And he was 16 when he started the business.
Right.
So that's what I was talking to you about yesterday when we had our pre-interview meeting.
Your grandfather was really a prodigy.
16, 17, 18, 19 years old.
There's no telling how many inventions he had.
He just submitted and got a patent for one.
He could have had numerous inventions that he didn't even apply for because of all the
hill he went through trying to get the first one and the threats and everything.
There's no telling how that discouraged him from pursuing other patents that he may want to get approved.
Exactly.
He was definitely an electric prodigy.
When he came to like Trissy, he was just a genius.
My grandfather, before he was even cool, had motion sensor lights in his house.
Somewhere it's the lights go off.
The moment someone walked in the room, it would just light up.
Whether they're a patent for it or not at the time, don't know.
But he came with so many ideas.
He came up with a whole, a coordinating whole that moved automatically.
And so he didn't have things in his backyard.
He had things in the back of his house.
Whole bunch of gadgets he invented.
And he didn't even try to get a patent.
And there was a frustration because I remember one time my father telling me,
because they didn't talk about it much.
It was like legend.
But one time he didn't make a comment where he thought about patent or something else.
And my grandmother was like, well, why?
So I'm going to try to steal your invention again.
And so, yeah, it's still the frustration.
He didn't show it, the slave much.
But I'm sure he was.
I'm sure he's thinking, dang, I had $1 billion invention that I didn't get credit for.
Why spend the time, the energy to do it again?
And I'm not getting credit.
But yes, he was definitely a prodigy to invent the age 16.
Imagine if he did get the credit in compensation.
This man could have been Albert Einstein or Lewis Latimer, these other,
he was definitely a genius and prodigy.
To think about this as 16 and say, wow, car chefs signals.
So you know what to go and left or right.
And knowing to think about that, like, wow, let me do something.
Let me create it.
Let me have it blink.
So people driving several feet away can see the light blinking.
Oh, so that's in the left or see the light to the right.
So instead of when it's raining and you can't see someone hand sticking out,
I can see the light because my grandfather, Joe, he said, listen,
for a dark-tem people, A, if a driving in the dark,
you ain't going to be able to see no left arm sticking out the window.
You're not going to be able to see that.
So he was right.
And he also said, if it's raining, go and stick the arm out.
Roll the window down, in the rain, stick the arm out and say,
I'm sitting on the left or sitting on the right.
You know what?
I'm just going to keep my arm in the car and keep it dry.
So it was simple, but such a wonderful,
a wonderful, meticulously crafted device.
It was.
I can't imagine having to stick your hand out of the window to signal.
And you made a good point.
If it's dark and you're a dark skin on top of that.
Exactly.
Right.
So that's a safety issue.
So yeah, like you said, a simple invention,
but innovative to, you know, just to say the least.
And yeah, it's still used today.
And like you said, it's on forklifts.
It's on all types of vehicles, just not cars.
And so there's no telling how many billions and billions
of dollars this invention has generated.
You've got to write a book about, you know, following up
and trying to get in contact with that family,
not so much for monetary benefit, but just to make that connection
and to see who they are and what their legacy is.
And just to get more information, that could be your next book.
And you know, another good book idea would be about your relative Priscilla.
That story about how your grandparents adopted her
and that whole thing, I think that's a story that may actually need to be told as well.
No, that's a fascinating story too.
And you're not the first person to say that because here he had 10 children.
And his children worked on the sharecropping farm.
And became successful.
And here you adopt one legally.
No, people say, wait, you already had 10?
You adopted another one.
And that in itself, you know, is an amazing story.
And even with my aunt who's still alive, my auntie Ethel Vaughn Reed Goddard,
where she was assistant superintendent in Bird Teague County School,
being the first female, period, to be in the superintendent's office in Bird Teague County.
That in itself was amazing.
Amazing. And she went to Elizabeth State State.
She also went to San Diego State, which got masters and she was a master of math.
And back then there still was a lot of sexism where women were not supposed to be scientists
or mathematicians.
So she was another tough person to say, listen, yes, I'm a woman.
I'm a mathematician.
And yes, I'm assistant superintendent in the school system.
And so, you know, we as bonds, we've had some churro blazing positions and accomplishments.
And so, you know, thing about my auntie, Pysiligale bond and my auntie Ethel,
you know, Reed bond Goddard, you know, there's a couple other stories that
definitely should be told that unsung just like my grandfather.
And it's intriguing and fascinating.
And it shows the level of perseverance.
Because sometimes we do get upset.
But my grandfather said, you know what?
Yes, I did not get compensation as a venture.
But yet I'm going to raise 10 kids.
We may not have the biggest house because that house, he raised them in maybe about
1500 square feet.
And you have a wife and 10 kids.
I know they all want to live that because the age gap.
So I know someone going to college.
But the point is that to raise that family in a house,
and have it paid for and so owned by the bond, that shows the accomplishments
and where it's all that he had.
He and that the frustration get to him.
I'm sure at the times is like, you know what, man, I probably could own on the
Bertie County, at least I could own Windsor.
You know what I mean?
I should have owned every house on this block.
But he was a humble man.
And, you know, I remember growing up raising in New York, we would visit
North Carolina almost every year and we see the cotton fields and we would say,
wow, our ancestors picked all the cotton fields by themselves by hand.
They picked the peanuts out the ground by hand.
You know what I mean?
They picked the tobacco and did all that work manually.
And like, wow, that's the perseverance of a people.
And that lets you speak to the strength that they had.
And for me, this book is honoring my ancestors and that's the point of it all.
And, you know, I looked some time to picture my grandfather, the publisher did an awesome job
with the digital pick because I found an old pick of my grandfather back from like 1964,
a long time ago.
He had on the black, you know, a black suit and a bow tie.
And those know me.
I love wearing bow ties as well.
And so I got that picture.
And so it's funny now.
The picture was the cover of the book.
Yeah, the picture was on the cover, but what happened was digitalized because when I showed
the publisher, they said it was like too old to like try to put it in the book, but
digitalized it.
He did a wonderful job recreating because that was my grandfather.
And so the picture, I mean, the back, I went to bow ties well and my dad loved bow ties
as well.
So it was like three generations of bow tie wearing black men that was sharp and intelligent.
Now it's safe between my grandfather, my father, myself, my grandfather, my father was more
intelligent than I was because my father was an engineer at Connassian in New York.
So electricity and understanding electricity was just in that DNA.
Yes, indeed.
Listen, everyone, this book is called Unsung, but forever remembered the man who invented
the automobile turn signal, David G. Bond.
I'm so glad that we got to have you on this evening and we got to share with our listeners
a little bit about your grandfather's legacy.
I think he left a great legacy, not just the invention, but like you said, the 11 children
and countless grandchildren who are, you know, from educators to politicians, entrepreneurs,
perseverance, not acquiescing to bitterness, although he had plenty of reasons to be bitter
with the way he was treated and the way his invention was or legacy was kind of stolen
from him.
But I love that he had a persevering spirit and that I definitely see that in you.
I love the fact that you took the opportunity to do all this research.
I know it took you a while to do it, but the book is really beautiful.
It's a quick read, but I think that it's a story that needed to be told.
I look forward to seeing you on TV shows and maybe some other productions coming down the
line that may kind of further put your grandfather's legacy out there.
But I want to thank you for your time today on this show.
Before we wrap up, tell our listeners where they can connect with you online and on social
media so they can find out more about you.
Sure.
My Instagram is Dr. Stephen Bond, one word, B-R-S-T-E-P-A-T-N-B-O-N-B.
I'm also on Twitter, Stephen Bond 74.
I also have the TikTok, Dr. Stephen Bond, just as well, and both on my Instagram and
also on my TikTok.
I do have some of the bills I've done with my students from chewing basketballs and giving
Supreme Court cases to imitating TikTok challenges.
We did an imitation where they had to slap the teacher challenge where the student act
like they're going to slap me, but they gave the breakdown in history of Supreme Court cases.
We did parodies of it.
We did also the crate challenge where people, which I saw was silly on TikTok, they were
going on the low crate and falling.
I faked like I was going through the crate challenge.
I had a student which I have every year, I challenged students because they memorized
the preamble of the Constitution and got the point they can say the whole preamble of the
Constitution, I give them $5.
Well, one year it got to a point where I had to decline it and just give them two bucks
a piece.
About 100 students remember the whole preamble.
That video had about $20,000 views.
That's the type of engagement we need from our teachers.
But Dr. Bond, listen, we're running short on time.
Thank you again for all of your passion that you put into your work.
Thank you for the engagement that you have with your students.
I know they'll remember it from years from now.
So I'm pretty sure they'll circle back around to you after they've had their great success
remembering all the love that you put into your work.
Thank you again.
That's our show for tonight, folks.
Join us again on December 28th while I have Freddie Beloy, comedian Freddie Beloy on.
So that should be a really interesting and fun show.
We'll see you again.
Thank you again for tuning in and have a good night, everyone.
Take care.
Bye.