Meet Garrett Morgan — And Be Thankful

You may be the type of person who believes traffic lights are out to get you. No matter where you go, how fast you drive, or what time you leave for your destination, you can count on hitting every traffic light just as it is turning red.

If that’s you, there’s a good chance that as you hit the brakes, you are also muttering something under your breath. Possibly a creative combination of Anglo-Saxon adjectives. Before you curse traffic signals entirely, consider directing some gratitude toward the man who made them a whole lot safer: Garrett Augustus Morgan.

Yes, Morgan. Not exactly a household name—unless your last name happens to be Morgan—but he should be right up there with Edison, Ford, and whichever unsung genius invented pants with a stretchable waistband. Garrett Morgan didn’t just invent the traffic signal as we know it—he also revolutionized firefighter safety, turned chemical hair processing into a booming business, and pulled off one of the most daring tunnel rescues in history. And he did it all while being a Black man in early 20th-century America. In other words, in addition to inventing literal lifesaving devices, he also had to navigate a society working overtime to ignore him.

We have already introduced you to Mr. Morgan in our previous article “Garrett Morgan: The Courageous Inventor Who Fought Fire and Prejudice”, where we dealt with his contributions to fire fighting. We couldn’t just stop there. The man was a one-person innovation department. Join us as we take a ride through Morgan’s life, complete with smoke hoods, hair serums, and a three-position approach to intersection safety.

From Kentucky to Cleveland: A Modest Beginning

Garrett Morgan was born in 1877 in Paris, Kentucky, the seventh of eleven children—which means, statistically, his mother never successfully called him by his correct name on the first try. His father was formerly a slave, and his mother was part Native American, part African American. Together, they were all about the reality of Reconstruction-era life. Morgan had only an elementary school education before heading north in search of opportunity. Like many self-respecting protagonists in an industrial-age underdog story, he ended up in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Accidental Haircare Tycoon

Before dreaming up things that saved lives, Morgan focused his creative genius on saving your hair from public humiliation. While working as a sewing machine repairman, he noticed that a certain chemical solution used to reduce friction also had the unintended side effect of making fabric fibers relax.

At this stage, Morgan’s scientific approach was comparable to that of a 5th grade boy in possession of a chemistry set: he experimented on a dog. Thankfully, the only side effect the dog experienced was cosmetic. Its curly hair went straight. Then he tried it on himself—possibly because the neighborhood dogs were wise to him by this point—and presto: instant hair straightening.

Thus, in 1913, was born the G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Company, purveyor of hair creams, dyes, and tools aimed primarily at African American customers. He marketed these products himself and became wildly successful. You know your invention has made it when it becomes part of both beauty salons and family gossip chains.

The Safety Hood: Not Just for Steampunk Cosplay

In 1914, Morgan patented one of his most important inventions: the safety hood. Imagine a proto-gas-mask-meets-plumber’s-nightmare apparatus, with a canvas hood, two tubes that hung down toward the ground (to draw in cleaner, lower air), and a filter system that allowed the user to breathe through potentially lethal fumes. This device would eventually evolve into what we now recognize as a gas mask.

At the time, firefighters were basically expected to breathe in the flames and walk it off. Morgan’s hood was a game-changer—except, well, it came with a problem. Namely, Morgan was Black. And in early 1900s America, that meant if people knew a Black man invented something, it must clearly be a witch’s contraption. So Morgan disguised himself in advertising and had a white actor front the product demonstrations. Sometimes he even used an alias: “Big Chief Mason,” pretending to be a Native American inventor, which apparently raised fewer eyebrows than being African American.

The 1916 Tunnel Explosion and the World’s Worst Thank You Note

In 1916, tragedy struck when a water intake tunnel beneath Lake Erie exploded. Workers were trapped underground, with toxic fumes filling the passage. Morgan and his brother Frank—equipped with the safety hoods—rushed to the scene. They descended into the tunnel not once, but multiple times, dragging survivors to safety.

The city of Cleveland applauded the heroism. Sort of. They gave him a plaque. Eventually. But the national press largely ignored his role—once again because of that whole “he’s Black” thing. In fact, when it came time to honor those who responded, many accounts left his name off the list entirely. You rescue people from a subterranean death trap and still can’t get a headline. Tough crowd. If you’d like the details, we covered them in this article.

The Traffic Signal That Thought Outside the Red-Yellow-Green Box

If Garrett Morgan had stopped with hair products and gas masks, he would’ve already had a solid resume. But no, he had more lives to improve—this time by preventing them from ending in fender-bending chaos.

After witnessing a particularly gnarly car accident, Morgan had an idea: What if traffic lights were slightly less murderous? At the time, most traffic signals were binary—stop or go. There was no middle ground. No “slow down, Karen.” No moment to pause and wonder if the guy in the Model T had actually seen the red light.

In 1923, Morgan patented a three-position traffic signal, which included a “warning” phase—basically the ancestor of our modern yellow light. Fun fact: he did not envision the “warning” phase to be interpreted as “hit the gas and try to speed through the intersection before the light turns red.” He sold the rights to General Electric for $40,000 (about $700,000 today), and the concept took off. Thanks to Morgan, we can now feel that rush of adrenaline as we mentally debate whether yellow means “slow down” or “speed up before the guy behind you honks.”

Garrett Morgan, Renaissance Man of Cleveland

Morgan wasn’t just content being an inventor. He founded the Cleveland Call newspaper, one of the city’s first African American publications. He also co-founded the Cleveland Association of Colored Men, which later merged with the NAACP. And because there’s no such thing as too many hats, he ran for public office in 1931, seeking a seat on the Cleveland City Council.

He was also the first Black man in Cleveland to own an automobile, which is probably the 1920s equivalent of getting the first iPhone, except way cooler because it involved cranking an engine and a high risk of catching fire.

A Legacy Finally Catching Up

Garrett Morgan died in 1963 at the age of 86. He lived long enough to see his safety hood adapted into modern gas masks during both World Wars, but not long enough to receive all the recognition he deserved. Schools have since been named in his honor, and he was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Still, you won’t find him on most school posters next to Einstein and Tesla (although frankly, he’d look great in that line-up).

Morgan’s inventions literally saved lives, smoothed hair, and kept traffic moving with marginally less profanity. He was an inventor whose impact touched fashion, emergency services, civil rights, and automotive safety. So the next time you see a traffic signal, a fireman’s mask, or a particularly silky hairdo, give a silent tip of the hat to the man who did it all—and got almost none of the credit.

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