Meet Jerry Lawson, the Black engineer who revolutionized the video
game industry, in this engaging picture book biography perfect for fans
of Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions and
Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History.
Before Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch, there was a tinkerer named
Jerry Lawson. As a boy, Jerry loved playing with springs, sprockets, and
gadget-y things. When he grew up, Jerry became an engineer--a
professional tinkerer--and in the 1970s, he turned his technical
know-how to video games.
Back then, if players wanted a new video game, they had to buy an entire
new console, making gaming very expensive. Jerry was determined to fix
this problem, and despite roadblocks along the way and having to repeat
a level or two, it was never game over for his mission. Eventually, he
leveled up and built a brand-new kind of video game console: one that
allowed players to switch out cartridges! He also founded Video Soft,
Inc., the first African American-owned video game company in the
country.
Jerry's tinkering and inventions changed the video gaming world forever.
Today, gamers have access to hundreds of video games at the push of a
button, all thanks to him. Game on!