Garrett Morgan – life saving gas mask
By
John C Abercrombie
Garrett Morgan was a great inventor, inventing the gas mask which has saved countless lives. Morgan faced great discrimination in his life. A life which brings out some of the ugliest parts of slavery.
Garrett was born in Paris, Kentucky, an African American community outside of Lexington, Kentucky. Blacks were segregated in many ways. Communities were frequently used to keep people separate. These communities would receive minimal services, infrastructure, schools, medical care and suffered in general neglect by all governmental services, even though they were legal tax paying citizens.
Another seldom talked about fact is that Garrett Morgan was the son AND slave of Confederate Colonel John H Morgan. Yes, the Morgan of Morgan’s Raiders fame! His mother was Elizabeth Reed, a former slave. Elizabeth was the daughter of Rev. Garrett Reed. Elizabeth Reed was half Native American of the Choctaw nation. Garrett had one brother Frank, who helped in the daring rescue of trapped miners that you will learn about later in this article.
Morgan’s Raiders, headed by Confederate Colonel John H Morgan, was meant to draw away 10,000’s of Union trips away from major campaigns and frighten Northern civilians into demanding that Union troops be recalled to defend them. The Raiders covered 1,000 miles, starting in Tennessee, and ending in Northern Ohio. Although not directly related to the Vicksburg, or Gettysburg campaigns, they coincided with them.
Morgan’s Raiders were successful in the beginning but were stopped in their attempts to cross back over the Ohio River. They were forced to surrender. Morgan and other senior officers were imprisoned in the Ohio State Penitentiary, but eventually escaped and were able to cross the Ohio River to safety.
The ugly side of this picture is that Morgan fathered his son with a slave woman, enslaved him and fought to make sure that his own son would forever be held in bondage. What kind of man can do this to his own flesh and blood?
Another seldom talked about part of the slavery issue is the “20 Negro Law” also known as the “20 Slave Law” or a very derogatory term the “20 N***** Law”.
We consider the slave owner as the person having the greatest interest in preserving slavery, yet this law exempted from Confederate Military Service, one white man for every 20 slaves owned on a Confederate Plantation, or for 2 or more plantations within 5 miles of each other that collectively had 20 or more slaves.
By the end of the war, the law had been amended to allow one exemption for every 15 slaves. The rich slaveowner therefore exempted his son from war and placed the defense of slavery on the nonslave holding white citizens.
One of the first laws passed by the Confederacy was the patent act that prevented any Black person from holding a patent.
The education of Blacks in this country has long suffered either in the available opportunities or the finances spent on them. Garrett was able to obtain a 6th grade education and at the age of 16 ran away to Cincinnati, Ohio in search of a better way of life.
In Cincinnati, he worked a handyman. In 1895, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio because it offered more opportunities for Black citizens. It was in Cleveland that he began repairing sewing machines. He had been working as a janitor but demonstrated great knowledge and earned the right to a promotion as a repairman.
As a repairman, his interest in how things worked was sparked. He developed a belt fastener that resulted in a major improvement in the garment manufacturing industry. He won a large bonus for his intellectual propensity.
Morgan was also building his reputation for his ability to fix things, which led to the opportunity to open his own repair business.
In 1907, Morgan opened his own sewing machine and shoe repair shop. In 1909, he and his wife Mary Anne opened a shop called Morgan’s Cut Rate Ladies Clothing Store. They employed 32 employees and made coats, suits, dresses, and other clothing items.
An active mind kept Morgan on the forefront of development and improvement for all things. In 1912, he patented a smoke hood that allowed people to work in hostile environments. This was the forerunner of devices that are widely used today, saving countless lives every day.
Many people turned their back on the device when they learned that a Black man had invented it. This forced Morgan to hire people to pretend to be him in order to accept awards for his invention. This had to hurt, but Morgan persisted.
The hood was developed after Morgan saw firefighters struggling from smoke and toxic fumes as they fought fires. His device was the work of a genius. His device used a wet sponge and a charcoal filter to remove toxic fumes and cool the air being breathed by the rescuer.
Taking advantage of the fact that hot air and therefore the toxic environment rose, the air intake used tubes to draw in air that was closer to the ground. Another huge advantage of the hood.
To demonstrate the device, Morgan adopted the disguise of “Big Chief Mason”, a Walpole Island Indian from Canada. He would enter a room filled with smoke from a fire of tar, sulfur, formaldehyde, and manure. He would enter and remain in the smoke for 20 minutes and emerge unharmed.
How sad that a man is able to have the genius to develop such a device yet is not allowed to demonstrate it and take credit because of the color of his skin.
The smoke hood became nationally known when he, with his brother Frank saved several men’s lives after a tunnel explosion under Lake Erie, July 24, 1916.
Following an explosion, two crews of rescuers had been overcome by the toxic environment and not been able to get themselves out of the tunnel.
Desperate for assistance, they contacted Morgan in the middle of the night. Garrett, Frank and two other White volunteers entered the tunnel and rescued 2 of the previous rescuers overcome by the toxic environment.
Morgan personally made 4 trips into the tunnel. Cleveland’s newspapers and city officials ignored Morgan’s act of heroism. It took many years for the City of Cleveland to recognize his contributions.
Instead of recognizing Morgan, Cleveland officials requested the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission issue medals to several White men who participated in the rescue after seeing the success of Garrett and Frank.
There are even pictures taken of the men being brought to safety showing Garrett and Frank, yet they were given no recognition.
As with great inventors, Morgan was no exception, they work on many problems and find solutions to some of the greatest problems that others experience. In addition to the clothing business that he and his wife ran, Morgan had a complete line of hair care products that was quite successful. He had hair straightening creams, hair dye and the straightening comb. All invented by Morgan.
Following him witnessing a traffic accident, he developed the traffic light system in use today. A device that he patented, he sold to General Electric for $40,000, which was an unheard of amount in those times.
Morgan was a great inventor, who was denied recognition because of the color of his skin.
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Garrett Morgan (Historically)
Garrett Morgan was gifted. He never gave up on his dream of making the world a better place, improving and saving many lives with his imaginative inventions. Learn more about Garrett Morgan and how he changed the world in this fascinating illustrated short story! With simple text and engaging illustrations, the Historically series brings stories of inspirational people and events to young readers.
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Routers
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Garrett Morgan, presented by Sandra Morgan, granddaughter of Garrett Morgan
The following video has footage of Morgan’s granddaughter describing the device. Morgan risked his life to rescue those in distress. While able to make a fortune from his device, he gave the patent to the US government because it could be used to save lives of soldiers.
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Cell Phones and Accessories
Many people underutilize the power of the cell phone. It is more than a way to keep in contact with friends, it is a way of accessing information. It is a minicomputer that you can easily carry with you. It is a great camera and voice recorder and with an abundance of apps, an amazing tool. The search begins with our Amazon affiliate link below
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Garrett Augustus Morgan – Traffic Light (Black History Animated)
African-American inventor, leader and passionate advocate for the black community. Garrett Augustus Morgan was driven by a keen interest in understanding how things worked and would later go on to invent improvements to the sewing machine, gas mask, traffic light system and create
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Garrett Morgan (Great African-Americans) Explore the life and achievements of Garrett Morgan, an African American inventor and entrepreneur.
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Stop and Go Garrett Morgan Inventor Teacher Guide
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Garrett Augustus Morgan: Businessman, Inventor, Good Citizen
A biography of Morgan’s life, as well as the events occurring during his lifetime that influenced his choices and inventions, thus giving a fuller picture of the man and his times. Section Headings include: Early Life, Growing Up, Moving On, A Changing Country, The Great Migration, First Stop Cincinnati, Then On To Cleveland, Ohio, A Business of His Own, Morgan’s Safety Hood, The Call, The Traffic Signal, Good Citizen, and Later Years. Patent List, Awards and Citations List, Additional Resources (Books, Websites, Video), Bibliography and Index included.
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The BLACK MAN Who Invented the Traffic Light! Garrett Morgan
Garrett Morgan is a man of many talents. In this video we discuss several of his innovations and inventions. We also recount his heroic rescue of several lives from a collapsed tunnel in Cleveland, Ohio. Check out this interesting video!
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As we explore the life and discoveries of Garrett Morgan, we see a man who has made tremendous improvements in our entire society. He has developed products that are used around the world. A man who made a significant impact on the safety of all of us. It does not require a degree to be innovative. It requires a desire, an imagination, access to information and the willingness to pursue your dream. Invention is being able to recognize a problem and come up with a solution and make it happen!