People & History 4, Garrett Morgan: Inventing Success
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One night in July 1916, a fiery blast shook the earth below Ohio’s Lake Erie and trapped workers in a deep tunnel. Rescuers hurried to the scene, but they were quickly stopped by thick, choking smoke. The city of Cleveland seemed unprepared to handle the disaster—many thought the trapped men were doomed. By the next morning, however, the workers had been rescued, thanks to a breathing device invented by Garrett Morgan. An African American, Morgan faced many disadvantages because of the color of his skin. Yet his love of mechanical things led him to become an inventor. Where he saw a need, he worked hard to address it. Morgan’s creativity and persistence made him a hero on that fateful July night.
Garrett Augustus Morgan was born on March 4, 1877, in Paris, Kentucky, the seventh of 11 children born to former slaves. The family was poor, and Garrett left school after sixth grade.
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At the time there were few opportunities available to young African Americans, so Garrett spent much of his boyhood working in the fields of the family farm. At the age of 14, he left home and traveled alone to Cincinnati, Ohio, to find work. He was soon hired as a handyman by a wealthy white landowner. But Morgan knew he was smart enough to be more than a simple laborer. In search of a better job, Morgan moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1895.
Shortly after arriving in Cleveland, Morgan found a job repairing sewing machines. In his spare time, he experimented with ways to improve these complicated machines. Morgan’s interest in mechanics blossomed into a skill for fixing different kinds of machinery, and word of his talent spread through Cleveland’s African American community. Eventually he earned enough money to buy his own home.
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In 1907 Morgan opened a sewing-machine repair and sales shop. Two years later he opened a tailoring shop that employed over thirty people to sew coats, suits, and dresses. A problem with his sewing machines led to his first famous invention.
Morgan noticed that the friction caused by fast-moving sewing needles could burn woolen fabric, ruining the expensive cloth. So he began experimenting with polish to reduce the friction. Called to dinner one night, Morgan quickly wiped the polish from his hands on a curly horsehair cloth. When he returned to work, he saw that the horsehair had straightened. After trying the polishing cream on a neighbor’s wavy-haired dog, Morgan realized he had invented something that could straighten hair. He started selling G.A. Morgan’s Hair Refining Cream, or relaxer, as it is known today. The product was popular, and Morgan’s accidental invention soon made him wealthy.
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The success of his businesses allowed Morgan to devote most of his time to inventing. In 1914 he obtained a patent for one of his most important inventions, a safety hood for firefighters. Realizing that smoke and heat rise, Morgan had devised a way for firefighters to breathe air from ground level. His simple hood contained two tubes that merged into one long tube that hung to the ground. A water-soaked sponge packed into the opening of the tube filtered out heat and soot. Morgan planned to travel around the country promoting the safety hood, but he knew many people would not listen to an African American. To attract buyers, a white business partner acted as the salesman, while Morgan disguised himself as a Native American. The men demonstrated to astonished crowds that "Big Chief Mason," wearing Morgan’s safety hood, could enter a smoke-filled tent and emerge unharmed twenty minutes later.
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A few orders were placed, but the device had yet to find real success. A disaster two hundred feet below Ohio’s Lake Erie would change all of that.
The city of Cleveland faced catastrophe when workers accidentally caused a natural gas explosion under Lake Erie. Part of a tunnel fell, killing some workers and trapping others. Rescuers couldn’t reach the workers because of the heat and toxic gases in the tunnel. Luckily, a firefighter remembered Morgan’s safety hood. Morgan was called to the scene of the disaster and arrived with four safety hoods. Morgan, his brother, and two other volunteers wore the safety hoods into the tunnel, rescuing survivors and bringing out the dead. Others soon took over, and by morning, Morgan’s invention had saved lives.
Stories about the remarkable safety hood appeared in newspapers across the nation, and orders poured in.
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White rescuers who used the safety hood that terrible night were praised in the reports and soon received medals for their heroism. Its African American inventor was overlooked, however, until Cleveland’s African American citizens honored Morgan's achievement. In 1917 they presented him with a gold medal for his critical role in the rescue.
Morgan continued to invent devices that would help others. In the 1920s automobiles were becoming popular, but since they were expensive, many people still relied on horse-drawn carriages and bicycles. Morgan was one of the first African Americans in Cleveland to own a car, and he witnessed a horrible crash between an automobile and a carriage. Although traffic signals had been in use for some time, most were simple devices that directed traffic to either stop or go. Morgan wanted to find a way to make the roads safer.
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In 1923 Morgan patented a three-way traffic signal that offered stop, go, and all-stop options. His invention enabled pedestrians to cross streets safely and ensured that traffic coming from one direction cleared an intersection before traffic coming from the other direction entered it.
Garrett Morgan gained success and wealth as an inventor and businessman, but he wanted other African Americans to succeed too. In 1920 he created a newspaper, the Cleveland Call. The paper reported on local and national events that were important to the African American community. Eventually renamed the Call and Post, the newspaper still exists today. Morgan also became treasurer of the Cleveland Association of Colored Men, a group devoted to attaining equal standing for African Americans. To further this goal, he ran for a seat on the Cleveland city council in 1931.
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Morgan was defeated in the election, but he stayed active in the community, working to create opportunities for African Americans.
Garrett Augustus Morgan died on July 27, 1963. During his life, he faced poverty and racism. Despite those challenges, he became a wealthy man. His desire to understand how machines worked turned into a remarkable knack for innovation. This skill helped him change the lives of others, especially the lives of other African Americans in his community. Working to improve his own life, Garrett Morgan improved the lives of countless others.