The Man

Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr., was born in Paris, KY, on March 4, 1877, as the seventh of nine children. He was born of mixed-race heritage: His mother—Elizabeth Reed—was a freed slave of Native American and African descent, and his father—Sydney—was a freed slave and the son of Confederate Army General John Hunt Morgan.

Morgan spent his early childhood working with his brothers and sisters on the family farm and attended grade school until the age of 14. Like many African Americans of his generation whose circumstances compelled them to begin working at an early age, Morgan's formal education ended after elementary school. He left Kentucky while still a teenager, moving north to Cincinnati, OH, in search of employment. Eager to continue his education and expand his knowledge, the precocious teen hired a tutor and continued his studies in English grammar. As a dexterous adolescent, Morgan worked as a handyman for a wealthy Cincinnati landowner.

He married Madge Nelson in 1896; they divorced two years later in 1898. He remarried in 1908 to Mary Hasek, a seamstress who immigrated to the United States from the modern-day Czech Republic; they remained married until he died on July 27, 1963. Together, they had three children.

The Inventor

In 1895, Morgan moved to Cleveland, OH, where he worked in factories as a sewing machine repairman for a clothing manufacturer. Morgan’s first invention—a belt fastener—was born with him experimenting with gadgets and materials to improve the sewing machines’ performance, which would help the machines run more efficiently. In 1901, he sold the belt fastener. Morgan gradually lost interest in repairing other’s inventions and became interested in developing his own.

Hence, Morgan opened his sewing machine repair shop in 1907. It was the first of several businesses he would establish. For example, in 1909, alongside his wife Mary, Morgan expanded his enterprises to include a tailoring shop, employing 32 workers. The shop made coats, suits, and dresses (for adults and children), all sewn with equipment the budding inventor had made himself.

He also invented a hair straightening cream, which was born from his experiments to create a chemical solution to reduce the frictional heating created by sewing machine needles against fabric. In 1913, Morgan established the G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Company, where he sold his hair cream invention. The company, his longest-running business venture, was a financial success, allowing him to, years later, purchase acres of land and build the Wakeman Country Club for African Americans—one of the first such clubs in Ohio. The country club was equipped with a boxing ring, training facilities, a restaurant, and greenspaces for horseback riding.

In 1914, Morgan received a patent for his invention of a breathing device, a smoke protection hood, a known precursor to the gas masks used during World War I to protect soldiers from toxic gases used in warfare. Having worked in sewing machine factories, Morgan knew how dangerous and common industrial fires were for employees and rescue workers. The smoke hood he invented sought to change that. It would later earn him the first-place prize at the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation in New York City. It was also used to rescue construction workers trapped in a water intake tunnel underneath Lake Erie in 1916. Some of the initial rescue workers, encountering the toxic fumes from an earlier explosion that trapped the workers, were killed. In being familiar with his invention, members of Cleveland’s police department called upon Morgan to use as many of his safety hoods as possible. Morgan, his brother, neighbor, and others loaded his car with the hoods and rushed to the scene. Alongside volunteers, Morgan and his brother participated in the rescue efforts, donning the smoke hoods to retrieve those who did and did not survive.

Like many inventors, Morgan developed and marketed his products; however, given racial prejudice during that time, his commercial marketing strategies were hidden under disguise—as much as they could be. For example, in marketing the smoke hood, Morgan hired a white man to act as the salesman while he conducted the demonstrations (with the hood on). But in helping with the 1916 rescue efforts, many learned the race of the inventor of the smoke protection hood. As a result, sales of the hood decreased, and neither Morgan nor his brother were credited for their assistance. Nonetheless, Morgan won a government contract with the U.S. Navy for the safety hoods during World War I, which helped further the success of his invention and protected soldiers from the toxic gases used in warfare.

In 1920, Morgan started the Cleveland Call, a weekly newspaper. As the years progressed, he became widely known and respected as a prosperous and generous businessman. His prosperity enabled him to purchase a home and an automobile, which led him to be the first African American in Cleveland to own a vehicle. After witnessing a horrible crash between an automobile and a horse-drawn carriage at an intersection, Morgan invented and patented a three-position traffic signal in 1923—the Nation’s first such patent.

The Inspiration

The first American-made automobiles were introduced to U.S. consumers shortly before the turn of the 20th century. At the time, it was not uncommon for bicycles, animal-driven carts, and vehicles to share and travel in the same area as pedestrians; crashes frequently happened. Prior to Morgan's patented invention, many traffic signals featured only two positions, stop and go, and some were still manually operated and did not have an interval between stop and go (like the modern-day all-red interval). The absence of an interval between stop and go allowed for collisions at busy intersections during the transition from one position to another as well as from one street to another.

Morgan’s traffic signal, powered by batteries and electricity from overhead wires, was a T-shaped pole unit featuring three positions: stop, go, and an all-directional stop position. The all-directional stop position paused traffic in every direction before allowing travel to resume on either of the intersection’s perpendicular roads. This feature, which also utilized bells to signal that the post was changing directions, allowed pedestrians to cross the roads more safely. “Consideration of all modes of travel and improving safety for everyone, especially with an emphasis on vulnerable road users, continues in today’s development of traffic control devices,” says Martin Knopp, associate administrator for the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Operations. During times of minimal traffic, Morgan’s signal was positioned at half-mast, alerting approaching motorists to proceed through the intersection with caution—having the same signaling effect as the flashing red and yellow lights used today.

Morgan was the first to apply for and receive a U.S. patent for the three-position traffic signal device. The patent was granted on November 20, 1923; Morgan later had his three-position traffic signal patented in Great Britain and Canada.

Morgan was a frontrunner of modern intelligent transportation systems, creating a precursor for the modern-day traffic light signal system used around the world. He sold the rights of his traffic signal to the General Electric Corporation for $40,000 in 1923, which equates to approximately $730,000 today.

The Program

Morgan, one of America’s most talented inventors, was the inspiration behind the creation of the FHWA Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures Program, a national transportation education initiative founded in May 1997 by former Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater. The purpose of the program was to prepare youth to establish a career within the transportation workforce of the 21st century.

In 2005, Congress elevated the program to a new level by authorizing its establishment as the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Education Program (GAMTTEP) via the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (Public Law 109-59). With a similar purpose to the original initiative, GAMTTEP’s goal is to improve the preparation of students, particularly women and minorities, in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through curriculum development and other activities related to transportation. FHWA is currently revamping its GAMTTEP to ensure it meets the educational needs for the transportation workforce of the future and plans to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity later in 2024.

Conclusion

In further acknowledging and celebrating Morgan’s contributions to roadways, transportation safety, and traffic management, the U.S. Department of Transportation celebrated the 100th anniversary of his traffic signal patent in November 2023. As a part of the celebration, Morgan’s granddaughter Sandra Morgan was on hand for a ceremony in his honor. As with his version of the traffic light, she believes each of her grandfather’s creations fulfilled a need. “At the heart of it, Garrett A. Morgan was a gifted problem solver. His inventions provided practical solutions and made significant contributions to the public safety issues of the day,” she says.

Morgan has received several awards and acknowledgments for his inventions. In addition to his prize-winning award for inventing the breathing device at the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation, Morgan was nominated for a Carnegie Medal and a Medal for Bravery from the City of Erie for his bravery in the Lake Erie disaster in 1916. Shortly before his death, Morgan was awarded a citation by the U.S. Government for his version of the traffic light signal, and in 2005, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. By patenting and marketing his traffic signal and smoke hood, Morgan positively impacted the world. In tribute, a number of U.S. roadways, facilities, and learning institutions bear his name—including a Cleveland water treatment plant and the Garrett Morgan School of Engineering and Innovation—for the innovative ways he made the world a safer place.

Karen Bobo serves as chief of the Workforce Programs Division in FHWA’s Office of Administration. She has held other leadership and technical positions throughout her career, including over 30 years of experience with FHWA.

For more information, see https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovativeprograms/centers/workforce_dev/.