Garrett Morgan

Garrett Morgan spent his life inventing many things, hair refining cream, to the traffic light. He was born May 4, 1877, in Paris, Kentucky. Garrett was the seventh child of his mother Elizabeth Reed’s eleven children. His mother was India, white and African mixed race. Her father was a Reverand named Garrett Reed. His great grandfather was John Hunt Morgan, a Confederate colonel. Morgan only received up to an elementary education and left home for Cincinnati, Ohio at the ripe age of 15.

While in Cincinnati he hired a tutor to help continue his education. He eventually relocated to Cleveland where he began working as a sewing machine repairman, for different clothing manufacturer’s . By 1907 Morgan opened the first of many businesses, sewing equipment and repair shop. In 1908 Garrett Morgan married his second wife Mary Anna Hasek (she was a Bohemian woman) and they had three kids together. In 1909 he expanded the business to include a tailoring shop, with all the garments being sewn from the equipment that Mr. Morgan made himself. During this time, Morgan developed a chemical that straightened the hairs on wool fabric. He eventually tested the chemical on dog fur, then himself. Once he achieved successful results, he created a company “G.A Morgan Hair Refining Company,” where he sold hair cream to African Americans.

Following his hair refining company, Morgan gained financial freedom and started working on more inventions. In 1914 Morgan received two patens for the gas mask and the safety hood, which protected people from harmful smoke, gasses, and pollutants. He struggled selling this invention due to racial discrimination. He came up with a marketing strategy that helped him sell his products nationally and internationally. He used white men and dressed up as Native American to demonstrate how his product worked. He also advertised his product in the newspapers using white models.

After accumulating such wealth, Garrett Morgan was the first African American to purchase an automobile (Henry Ford). While driving he witnessed a carriage and car accident. This led him to inventing the manual traffic light. This helped make the roads safer for both vehicles and pedestrians. He received a patent for this invention in 1923 but sold the rights to General Electric.

Around 1943 Morgan was diagnosed with glaucoma. He became a member of the NAACP, started a weekly newspaper called the Cleveland Call later changed to the Cleveland Call and Post, he donated money to HBCU’s and founded a country club for African Americans. In July of 1963, Morgan succumbed to a lingering illness. In 2005 Garrett Morgan was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Thank you, Garrett Morgan for your contributions to the culture!