The real McCoy / Andrew Moodie.

1st ed.

ix, 118 p. ; 22 cm.

A play.

The story of inventor Elijah McCoy, whose name became a byword for quality, as in "the real McCoy. " The play explains why we've never heard of him and reclaims a fascinating man's life from undeserved obscurity. Elijah McCoy, born in Canada to runaway American slaves, showed so much promise in school that he won a scholarship to study mechanical engineering at Edinburgh University. McCoy moved to the US, where no one believed a black man could be an engineer and so he was set to stoking boilers. Nevertheless, McCoy devised a solution to one of the greatest problems facing steam locomotion that was sold worldwide with the marketers proviso that McCoy's race be concealed.

First public performance: Factory Theatre, on February 2, 2006, Toronto.

0887549020

D M817re 2006