Elijah J. McCoy #2042
Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester in Essex County, Ontario, Canada, to George McCoy and Mildred Goins, both runaway slaves from Kentucky in the United States, who escaped on the Underground Railroad to Colchester. George McCoy enlisted in the British forces. In return he was awarded 160 acres (0.65 km²) of land for his service. When he was three, McCoy’s family moved back to the U.S., settling in Detroit, Michigan. He had 11 brothers and sisters. McCoy was fascinated by machinery. He studied engineering in Edinburgh, Scotland from age 16 and then immigrated to the United States, settling in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
McCoy had wanted to work as an engineer but was repeatedly frustrated in this goal due to racial discrimination. In 1870, he found work as a fireman and oiler at the Michigan Central Railroad. “More in Bio”
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