In 1873, at the age of 21, Jan Ernst Matzeliger immigrated to America, having left all that was familiar behind in South America. He arrived with hopes and dreams of a bright future in this new country. Though Jan had no formal training, he was highly skillful with tools and machinery. But no one wanted to hire a Black immigrant who didn’t speak English. Yet Jan didn’t give up, and he finally got a job at a shoe factory. As Jan learned the process of shoemaking, he envisioned a new machine—a lasting machine—that would help produce more shoes more efficiently.