Garrett Morgan

The traffic light and the gas mask were invented by Garrett Morgan (1877-1963), who lived in my hometown of Cleveland. I learned more about him recently when I talked to his granddaughter, Norma Morgan. We were at a party for the 1910 carousel that was recently restored in Cleveland. (I have worked on the restoration project for the past 10 years—see Letter to Lee in this issue.) Norma, a college professor and historian, is the keeper of her family’s records. Garrett was granted a patent for his traffic light in 1923. One of the few remaining original examples has been donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, scheduled to open in Washington, D.C., in 2016. Another is in the collection of the Western Reserve Historical Society, the new home of the carousel. Garrett must have been an amazing person. His gas mask was the first device to use carbon to filter air and was used by firefighters before World War I. He founded a company that made personal grooming products and was a founder of the first newspaper covering events relating to black Americans in the Cleveland area.