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In addition to the downside, neither the inventor nor his brother were adequately appreciated for their valiant efforts at Lake Erie, likely it was another influence of racial discrimination. The attention that Morgan received from the event hurt sales despite his heroic actions the public was now well aware that Morgan was an African American, and many refused to buy his items. Before the search operation was shut down, the brothers managed to save two lives and recover four bodies. Morgan and his brother put on breathing devices when he heard about the incident, made their way to the tunnel and entered as quickly as possible. Workers entered a pocket of natural gas, which led to a huge explosion and trapped workers underground amidst suffocating noxious fumes and dust. The city of Cleveland drilled a new tunnel under Lake Erie in 1916 for the provision of fresh water. The tactic was effective sales of the equipment, especially from firefighters and rescue workers, were fast.

Morgan employed a white actor to pose as “the inventor” during his breathing device demonstrations in an attempt to overcome the opposition to his products Morgan would pose as the inventor’s sidekick, dressed as a Native American man named “Big Chief Mason,” and reach places otherwise dangerous for breathing, wearing his hood. This invention won him first prize at the Second International Safety and Sanitation Exhibition in New York City.Īmong buyers, particularly in the South, where racism existed palpable despite advances in African American rights, there was some resistance to Morgan’s devices. During World War I, Morgan’s breathing system became the prototype and precursor for the gas masks used to shield soldiers from poisonous gas used in combat. Morgan pushed hard to sell the device, mostly to firefighters, often personally demonstrating its accuracy in fires. The business was extremely profitable, giving financial stability to Morgan and enabling him to pursue other interests.Ī breathing device, or’ safety hood,’ was created by Morgan in 1914, providing its wearers with a safer breathing environment in the smoke, gases and other pollution. Morgan Hair Refining Company and sold African Americans with the cream. Morgan eventually tried the concoction on himself after trying his remedy to have a positive effect on a nearby future. Morgan experimented with a chemical solution in an attempt to minimize the friction produced by the needle in order to mitigate the issue and subsequently found that the hairs of the cloth were straighter. At the time, because sewing-machine needles operated at such high speeds, it was a common problem. Morgan’s patented sewing machine eventually opened the way to his financial dependence, although in a somewhat unorthodox way, following the momentum of his business success: Morgan was working with sewing machines in his newly opened tailoring shop in 1909, a business he had opened with wife Mary, who had experience as a seamstress, when he found woolen cloth that had been scorched by a sewing boss. Morgan’s business was a great achievement, and it helped him to marry a Bavarian woman called Mary Anne Hassek, and to establish himself in Cleveland.

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Learning about the workings of sewing machines and how to fix them, Morgan became an entrepreneur who opened a repair shop. Employment at a number of sewing-machine factories caught young Morgan’s imagination and determined his future. While Morgan only completed elementary school education, he paid for an extra lessons from a private tutor.

When Morgan was in his mid-teens, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to look for work, and found it as a handyman to a wealthy landowner. Morgan’s mixed-race background had an impact on his career as an adult.

His father, Sydney, was a freed slave, he was the son of the Confederate colonel John Hunt Morgan. His mother was African-American of Indian descent, and the daughter of a Baptist Minister. Garrett Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky on March 4, 1877. He continued to patent a range of inventions, including an improved sewing machine and traffic signal, a tool for hair straightening, and a breathing system that would later provide the WWI gas mask blueprint. Garrett Morgan started his career as a sewing-machine mechanic with just an elementary education. Garrett Morgan was a groundbreaker for African American inventors with his patents, he invented many including hair straightening product, a breathing device, a revamped sewing machine and an excellent traffic signal. He was born in 1877 on March 4 and died in 1963 on July 27. was an African-American inventor, businessman, and a community leader.