African America History Spotlight - Garrett Morgan

Imagine being a young lad who constantly tosses and turns nightly with great visions and dreams percolating through out your mind. You try and sleep but you are inundated with restless thoughts of strange visions. This can be said for Garrett Morgan, a world famous inventor and business entrepreneur.



Garrett Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky and his early childhood was spent attending school and working on the family farm. Working on the family farm proved to be a tasking time for Garrett and he set out for greater opportunities above and beyond what he was experiencing daily in Kentucky.


He would eventually find himself in Cincinnati, Ohio where he would experience a better education as well as a greater way of day to day living. He would move on to Cleveland, Ohio and ventured out to working on sewing machines for a clothing manufacturer.

It was during this time of his life that Morgan’s fame would begin to take off. News of his excellent work ethic as well as his experimenting would lead to greater opportunities such as working for manufacturing firms in the Cleveland region. Garrett would eventually fall in love and marry a beautiful young woman but his extensive work hours toke a toll on the marriage and it ended in divorce.


Never one to give into life’s challenges, Morgan opened an equipment repair company complete with 32 employees. He also ventured off into other types of businesses such as a Newspaper business called “The Cleveland Call”.

While driving along the streets of Cleveland, Garrett had an epiphany; he had witnessed a horrible traffic accident involving an Automobile and a Horse and Carriage. He quietly began work on inventing a simple traffic signal and put his heart and soul into the design. Other inventors had experimented with, marketed, and even patented traffic signals, however, Garrett Morgan was one of the first to apply for and acquire a U.S. Patent and the patent was granted on November 20, 1923.


The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This "third position" halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely. Satisfied with his God given talent, Morgan would eventually go on to sell the rights to his traffic signal to the General Electric Corporation for $40,000.



Morgan was constantly experimenting to develop new concepts and designs. Though the traffic signal came at the height of his career and became one of his most renowned inventions, it was just one of several innovations he developed, manufactured, and sold over the years. He also would go on to invent the now famous gas mask as well as a zigzag stitching attachment for manually operated sewing machine. He also founded a company that made personal grooming products, such as hair dying ointments and the curved-tooth pressing comb.

In his later years, Morgan would develop glaucoma and would be rendered legally blind however he would continue to create great inventions. One of his last inventions was a self-extinguishing cigarette, which employed a small plastic pellet filled with water, placed just before the filter.  Morgan was awarded a citation for his traffic signal by the United States Government and was also an Honorary Member of Alpha phi Alpha. Sadly, Garrett Morgan passed away on August 27, 1963.