CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH
AFRICAN-AMERICAN INVENTORS
Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. – (March 4, 1877 – July 27, 1963) was an inventor and community leader. He was the subject of a newspaper feature in Cleveland, Ohio, for a heroic rescue in 1916 of workers trapped within a water intake tunnel, 50 ft (15 m) beneath Lake Erie. He performed his rescue using a hood fashioned to protect his eyes from smoke and featuring a series of air tubes that hung near the ground to draw clean air beneath the rising smoke. This enabled Morgan to lengthen his ability to endure the inhospitable conditions of a smoke-filled room. Other inventions of Morgan’s include the development of a chemical for hair-straightening. Morgan is also credited as the first African American in Cleveland to own an automobile.