Morgan, Garrett A., 1877-1963

Garrett Morgan; Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. born March 4, 1877, Claysville, Kentucky, United States; died July 27, 1963 (aged 86), Cleveland, Ohio, United States; His father was Sydney Morgan, a son and freed chattel slave of Confederate Colonel John H. Morgan of the infamous Morgan's Raiders. His mother was a slave called Elizabeth Reed, who was the result of a union between a White minister named Rev. Garrett Reed. Being part Native American, and grandson of Rev. Garrett Reed he had at least one sibling, a brother named Frank, who assisted in the 1916 Lake Erie tunnel rescue. Possessing a sixth-grade education, from Branch Elementary School in Claysville, Morgan moved at the age of 14 to Cincinnati, Ohio, in search of employment; Most of his teenage years were spent working as a handyman for a Cincinnati landowner; In 1895, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he began repairing sewing machines for a clothing manufacturer. This experience with repairing sewing machine was the impetus for Morgan's interest in how things work. His first invention, developed during this period, was a belt fastener for sewing machines. Throughout this period of time, before his first patent in 1912, he was slowly building his reputation in Cleveland for his skill at fixing things; In 1908, Morgan became more conscious of his heritage and helped found the Cleveland Association of Colored Men. In 1909, he and his wife Mary Anne expanded their business ventures by opening a shop called Morgan's Cut Rate Ladies Clothing Store. The shop had 32 employees, and made coats, suits, dresses, and other clothing. Around 1910 his interest in repairing other people's inventions waned, and he became interested in developing some of his own; He was the subject of a newspaper feature in Cleveland Ohio, Ohio, for a heroic rescue in 1916 of workers trapped within a water intake tunnel, 50 ft (15 m) beneath Lake Erie. He performed his rescue using a hood fashioned to protect his eyes from smoke and featuring a series of air tubes that hung near the ground to draw clean air beneath the rising smoke. This enabled Morgan to lengthen his ability to endure the inhospitable conditions of a smoke-filled room. Morgan is also credited as the first African American in Cleveland to own an automobile; The smoke hood was completed circa 1912. He received his patent for it that year as well. The successful invention of the smoke hood precipitated the launch of the National Safety Device Company in 1914; In 1913 he incorporated hair care products into his growing list of patents and launched the G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company, which sold hair care products, including his patented hair straightening cream, a hair coloring, and a hair straightening comb invented by Morgan; The first American-made automobiles were introduced to consumers just before the turn of the twentieth century, and pedestrians, bicycles, animal-drawn wagons and motor vehicles all had to share the same roads. To deal with the growing problem of traffic accidents, a number of versions of traffic signaling devices began to be developed, starting around 1913; Morgan had witnessed a serious accident at an intersection, and he filed a patent for traffic control device having a third "warning" position in 1922. The patent was granted in 1923, though this was not the first system with a warning, a three light system being invented in 1920 by William Potts, and previous systems having audible warnings; In 1908, he co-founded the Cleveland Association of Colored Men, a group with the mission of improving economic and social conditions within the African American community (this group would later merged with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)). Morgan served as its treasurer. He was a member of the NAACP and donated money to Historically Black Colleges and Universities colleges; Morgan, in 1920, founded the Cleveland Call, a weekly newspaper and, in 1938, subsequently participated in its merger that created the Cleveland Call and Post newspaper; Morgan was a member of the Prince Hall Freemason fraternal organization, a Freemason group that predominantly consisted of African Americans due to de jour segregation (Excelsior Lodge No. 11 of Cleveland, Ohio). He was also a faithful member of Antioch Baptist Church; Morgan married Madge Nelson in 1896; they were divorced in 1898. In 1908 he married Mary Hasek. He had three children: John P. Morgan, Garrett A. Morgan, Jr., and Cosmo H. Morgan. He died in Cleveland, Ohio, and was laid to rest in the Lake View Cemetery;