Charles H. Black (October 5, 1850 – August 19, 1918) was an American carriage maker and automobile pioneer whose business was in Indianapolis, Indiana.

[2] Later the same year, 1891, he states that he imported a Karl Benz gasoline-powered engine from Germany and mounted it into a "horseless carriage" which he tried out successfully in Indianapolis on the paved streets of Circle and Delaware, becoming the first person to drive an automobile in the city.

[2] Remarkably, research has failed to bring to light contemporary reports from the 1890s of Black's first automobile, but eyewitness accounts and early photographs exist.

[2] A business card of the C. H. Black Manufacturing Company dated 1892 shows a picture of Black's first automobile with the legend "Estimates furnished for power-equipped vehicles of any style", and two of his early vehicles are extant, one on display at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis and the other in a private collection.

[2] Black's design failed to go into larger-scale production, largely because its ignition system required the use of a kerosene torch.