Marie Van Brittan (1922-1999) was born and raised in Jamaica, Queens. In 1966, Brown designed a closed-circuit security system that monitored visitors via camera and projected their images onto a television monitor. Not only that, a panic button contacted the police immediately. Brown filed the patent for her “home security system utilizing television surveillance” on August 1, 1966. Her husband’s name got second billing. It was the first patent of its kind. Black women keeping everyone safe yet again.

