Please Stop Lying On Our Ancestors pt. 2 - Osbourn Dorsey
A series exposing the Black history lies your favorite social media “educators” and civil rights orgs keep spreading.
🆕 Original Research by Kimberly Renee
Today, we explore the TRUTH about Osbourn Dorsey. ‘Cause NOBODY has gotten it right. And it’s a hot doggone mess.
When I first saw this misinformation floating around online, my common sense radar went off like… huh?
But I guess it either sounded good to folks, or maybe they just trusted the source? Who’s to say.
What really got me, though, was seeing it amplified on a major platform—The Amanda Seales Show (a radio show that has since been canceled). That one stung.
I used to work for The Amanda Seales Show, sharing weekly history that fascinated me or connected to current events. So when I heard this claim during a live recording, I immediately flagged it.
Before the show aired, I gave Amanda direct evidence proving it was false. I ended up talking to the show’s producer, who thanked me for catching it… but the editing team never cut it.
Anyway, before we get into specifics, a few notes:
📌 If you’re receiving this by email, the whole post may not fit in your email, so view the whole thing online.
📌Apologies in advance for any typos. That’s what happens when you write your own posts and don’t copy AI bar for bar 😂
📌 Sharing is caring. And the more you share, the more free access you get to my paywalled content.
📌 When you learn something (‘cause you will), hit that restack button on Substack if you’ve got the app.
Buckle up. There’s a LOT to unpack. Let me cook.
Alright, let’s talk about Osbourn Dorsey (often misspelled “O-s-b-o-u-r-n-e” or “O-s-b-o-r-n-e”)
If you Google his name, you’ll find people claiming he was a formerly enslaved 16-year-old who invented the door knob.
And listen, with a name like Osbourn Dorsey, it’s almost like he was born for the job. Door, see?
But then I was like… nah.
(I just really wanted an excuse to drop him in my post. Hey Aaron! 😍)
Yes, someone named Osbourn Dorsey does hold a patent.
But door hardware—including handles and knobs with locking mechanisms—existed long before this invention.
So there’s some misinformation we need to address. But before I show you the evidence… can we explore this with logic first?
By that point in history, we had trains, staplers, sewing machines, the first stethoscope, the microphone… but we ain’t have not one door knob until 1878?
Does that sound plausible to you?
But a gut feeling isn’t evidence… so here’s some documented history.
For most of the 1800s, a Connecticut-based company called Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Co. was one of the leading manufacturers of padlocks, door locks, and door hardware.
Below is an old price list from 1859, showing various door knobs for sale years before Osbourn was a thought in his parents minds (as my momma would say). It’s followed by a design patent from 1870—for those who believe his patent was the first door knob. It wasn’t.
Osbourn Dorsey invented an “Improvement on Door-Holding Devices.”
How do I know? Because the answer is buried in a 5,000-page historical manuscript, locked away in a single book, in one random library in the middle of nowhere?
No! It’s right there in the patent documentation, which is publicly available by searching “Osbourn Dorsey Patent.”
I kid you not.
But, as I’ve said before, people don’t read.
And the misinformation doesn’t stop at misstating his contribution. The photo being passed around with the man in the spotted tie (see below) is not him. It’s James Meredith.
What are we doiiing?
Just slapping a random Black face on something so we can share it online? It’s giving “we all look alike”… ew.
Here’s the gag…I was unfamiliar with James when I first saw this so-called (now debunked) photo of Osbourn. What made me question the image wasn’t the name but the photo quality and the style of dress, specifically, that tie.
Our assumption is that the Osbourn who improved the door knob was born in or around the 1860s. That’s the only way he’d be 16 in 1878. That would mean the photo would have had to be taken in the 1880s or 1890s.
Now, take a look at these photos of Black men dressed up in the 1890s. Look at that neckwear.
Different era. Different vibe.
If photos of Osbourn do exist, they are not publicly available or attributed.
And as I said in part one of this series, when we (stewards of history) get it wrong, they get it wrong way worse. This website attributed a photo of R&B legend Lee Dorsey to Osbourn.
Any Dorsey will do, huh?
(Sigh)
But the lies get deeper.
I found the young man who people claim is associated with this patent.
In the 1880 federal census, an Osbourn Dorsey is living with parents Levi and Christina/Christie Dove Dorsey in Georgetown. In the household are the following people:
Mary
Levi
Osbourn
Issac Williams (son-in-law to Levi)
In this federal census, he is listed as 18. In the previous census taken just 10 years earlier in 1870, he is denoted as 11.
And in the manumission paperwork filed by the family that enslaved the Dorseys (shared below), he is listed as eight months old in May of 1862.
That math don’t math.
Meaning, we can’t confirm his exact birth year or the age he was when the patent was filed. But despite what’s floating around on the innanets about Osbourn being born in September 1862, the documents make it clear that he could not have been born at that time, as he was already several months old by May of that same year.
Looking at you, Face2FaceAfrica. They stay being one of the worst offenders when it comes to history. If you’re using them as a source… stop.
In the documents above, we see Christina and her children listed as “slaves” belonging to the now-deceased Ann T. Washington. Mary Peter, who appears to be the administrator of the estate, filed paperwork seeking compensation under the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act.
(People are even saying that online that Mary Peter enslaved them, even though she said no such things. Mary was likely Ann’s relative)
You’ll notice Mary references April 16, 1862—the day President Lincoln signed the act into law that freed enslaved people in D.C. and compensated owners up to $300 for each free person.
(Yes, enslavers were paid for freeing those they enslaved in D.C.)
In the next set of documents, we learn that Ann T. Washington was bequeathed Christina and her three children—Mary, Levi, and Osbourn—by her husband upon his death.
Here, Mary states that Osbourn was born after Ann died.
Now Mary, how were they still enslaved to Ann if Ann was dead?
Because if someone was enslaving them following her passing, wouldn’t that person be the one to collect and not the dead lady? And if they weren’t technically enslaved, are you really out here trying to get money for emancipating not-slaves who were already emancipated when Ann died?
Mary!
See, Ann Thomas Peter Washington died in 1861.
Ann was married to George Corbin Washington who was the grand-nephew of the George Washington—the first President of the United States.
George Corbin Washington was “a Representative from Maryland; born on ‘Haywood Farms,’ near Oak Grove, Westmoreland County, Va., August 20, 1789; attended Harvard University; studied law, but devoted himself to agricultural pursuits on his plantation in Maryland; resided for the most part at Dumbarton Heights, in Georgetown, D.C.”
So you know they kept a bag.
Look at their house. And it’s likely the home—or at least the property—where this Osbourn was born. It was built by Thomas Beall (father of George Corbin’s first wife, Eliza Beall) and still exists.
With all that said, the notion that this Osbourn was “born a slave” is also now up for debate.
So he probably wasn’t 16. He didn’t invent the door knob but rather improved it. He didn’t have an enslaver when he was born. And that photo isn’t him.
Oouf.
And there’s more.
Christina and Levi’s son Osbourn was born Cornelius Osbourn Dorsey. And he died in Boston in 1923 at the age of 61.
If you do some quick math… that would have made him born around 1861 or 62, right? Scroll back up to the 1870 census with Christina and Levi. Ain’t no kids named “Cornelius,” only Osbourn, which is the name he went by as a kid.
In the marriage records above, we see a 40-year old Cornelius O. Dorsey (parents Levi and Christina) marrying a woman named Ellen Cuff in Boston. His job title is “watchman” and in the 1910 census, he is listed as working as a porter (waiter).
Now, I’m not saying a watchman can’t invent things, but… what if I told you there was another man with the same name living in Washington, D.C. at the time who was an engineer. Peep “eng.” as his occupation in the city directory below.
This Osbourn Dorsey was denoted as a 70-year-old widowed entrepreneur in the 1910 census, which would have made him 38 years old in 1878 when the patent for the door knob improvement was filed. (See that 946 below in the second column below? Same 946 E Street SW as in the city directory above.)
What’s more, if Cornelius Osbourn would have authored a patent, it would have more than likely been filed under his government name. It was not.
I rest my case.
Below is a short list of people and organizations spreading this misinformation. There are tons of social media posts about it, but I’ve left most of them off the list. If you see a star by a link, that means I’ve noticed this platform repeatedly sharing misinformation about Black history. But know, this isn’t about calling folks out because they are intentionally causing harm… they aren’t. It’s a caution for us and a nudge for them to do better. We all have to do better in these times, myself included. I’ll strike through the links if they make corrections.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Kimmiverse to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.