Garrett Morgan

Garrett Augustus Morgan was born on March 4, 1877 in Paris, Kentucky, the seventh of eleven children to Sydney and Elizabeth Morgan. His parents had previously been slaves, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. At the early age of 14, Morgan decided to travel north to Ohio in the hopes of receiving better education opportunities. During those times, there were better opportunities for blacks in the northern part of the country. Still, Morgan’s formal education never surpassed elementary school. He moved to Cincinnati and then to Cleveland, working as a handyman in order to make ends meet. In Cleveland, he learned the inner workings of the sewing machine and in opened his own sewing machine store in 1907, where he
Fortunately someone at the scene had heard of Morgan's invention and ran to call him at his home. Morgan and his brother Frank quickly arrived at the scene, donned the Safety Hood and entered the tunnel. After a heart wrenching delay, Morgan appeared from the tunnel carrying a survivor on his back as did his brother seconds later. The crowd erupted in applause and Morgan and Frank re-entered the tunnel, joined this time by two other men. Even though they were unable to save all of the workers, they were still able to rescue many of the workers who, otherwise, would have died for sure. Reaction to Morgan's Safety Hood and his heroism quickly spread across the city and the country as many newspapers picked up on the story. Morgan received a gold medal from a Cleveland citizens group as well as a medal from the International Association of Fire Engineers, which also made him an honorary member of the association.
Soon, thanks to widespread endorsement, orders came in from fire and police departments all over the country. Unfortunately, many of these orders were canceled when people discovered that Garrett A. Morgan, inventor of a lifesaving device, was lack. It seems that many people would rather face danger and possibly death than rely on a lifesaving device that was created by a black man. Morgan’s race was something that many found hard to accept and many judged the Safety Hood