As Black History Month approaches, we must remind ourselves that February isn’t the only month in the year to acknowledge the accomplishments of African-Americans, especially when we use some of the things that were invented by black people every day.

Black people have made some incredible contributions to society, including in the realms of music and culture. There are so many examples that we couldn’t fit them all in one post. But we decided to pulled together a short list of some of the things invented by black people that the world simply wouldn’t be able to live without — as a simple reminder that black history really is everyone’s history.