Honoring Black Inventor Garrett Morgan | Bold In The Know
February 25, 2021
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2:20Now PlayingHonoring Black Inventor Garrett Morgan | Bold In The Know
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as posted by the channelHere’s the latest in pop culture from your sis Shay Sayss on Bold In The Know. Be sure to like, subscribe, and let us know what you think in the comments!
It’s Black History Month, so it’s only right that we at Bold share some amazing Black stories with you. Today we’re looking at the life and legacy of Garrett Morgan.
Who was Garrett Morgan? Garrett A. Morgan was an inventor born to free slaves in 1817. As a teenager, he moved from Claysville, Kentucky to Cleveland, Ohio to find better opportunities. Morgan invented many products while living in Cleveland but one of his notable inventions was the safety hood smoke protection device.
What is the safety hood smoke protection device? Well, Morgan wanted to create a device that combated the heavy smoke that firefighters faced in the line of duty. He received a patent for this device in 1914, but this was the Jim Crow Era and people weren’t buying from black inventors. So in the South, Morgan hired white people to demonstrate his products while he dressed in disguise. The white actors would pretend to be the inventor while Morgan dressed as the assistant. And this marketing strategy ended up working!
In 1916 there was a gas explosion in Cleveland which left people trapped in tunnels under Lake Erie, also known as the 1916 Waterworks Tunnel Disaster. Remembering the safety hood smoke protection device demonstrations, the authorities called Morgan for help. Morgan arrived with backup, additional masks, and led the rescue team inside. They ended up saving the survivors, but Morgan’s heroism was met with mixed feelings. Some people saw his image in the scene and refused to buy. Other newspapers left Morgan’s name out of their coverage completely. It took years for people to acknowledge Morgan’s contributions.
This did not stop Morgan. He later started an African American newspaper called Cleveland Call, and kept inventing. In 1923, he was granted a patent for a traffic signal and eventually sold the rights to General Electric for $40,000.
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