(1875-1963)

Garret A. Morgan was a progressive business man and 
scientific inventor in Cleveland, Ohio during the early 
1900s. One of his best know patented inventions was a 
smoke protector/safety hood which is known to have 
saved the lives of trapped workers in a waterworks tunnel. 
Another Morgan invention was an automatic traffic signal 
that was patented in 1923 and later sold to General Electric. 
Today, African American successors of Morgan carry on 
his legacy, taking leadership roles in all field of science 
and research, including medicine, botany, biology, 
ecology, physics  and astronomy.

The Inventor's Early Life 
The son of former slaves, Garrett Morgan was born in Paris, 
Kentucky on March 4, 1877. His early childhood was spent 
attending school and working on the family farm with his 
brothers and sisters. While still a teenager, he left Kentucky 
and moved north to Cincinnati, Ohio in search of opportunity. 

Although Garrett Morgan's formal education never took him 
beyond elementary school, he hired a tutor while living in 
Cincinnati and continued his studies in English grammar. 
In 1895, Morgan moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he went 
to work as a sewing machine repair man for a clothing 
manufacturer. News of his proficiency for fixing things and 
experimenting traveled fast and led to numerous job offers 
from various manufacturing firms in the Cleveland area. 

Source and Additional Links:

Garrett A. Morgan. Technology and Transportation Futures Program Information
http://education.dot.gov/who.html
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The Faces Of Science: African Americans in the Sciences
http://www.princeton.edu/~mcbrown/display/morgan.html
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About.com
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blgas_mask.htm
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United States Department of Transportation -Federal Highway Administration
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/education/index.htm
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An American Inventor
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/education/gamorgan.htm
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Top Blacks
http://www.99jams.com/technology/garrett-morgan.htm