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{{Infobox person
| name = Garrett Augustus Morgan
| image = Garrett Morgan.gif
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1877|3|4}}
| birth_place = ]
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1963|8|27|1877|3|4}}
| death_place = ]
| other_names = Big Chief Mason
| known_for = Inventor of a type of ] and a ]
| occupation = Inventor, Entrepreneur
}}
'''Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr.''' (March 4, 1877 &ndash; August 27, 1963) was an inventor who invented a type of respiratory protective hood (conceptually similar to modern ]s), a type of ], and a ] preparation. He is renowned for a heroic rescue in which he used his hood to save workers trapped in a tunnel system filled with fumes. He is credited as the first African-American in Cleveland to own an automobile.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bookrags.com/Garrett_A._Morgan#The_Garrett_Morgan_traffic_signal |title=Encyclopedia of World Biography on Garrett A. Morgan |publisher=Bookrags.com |date= |accessdate=2009-05-19}}</ref>

==Early life==
At the age of fifteen, Morgan moved to ], in search of employment. Most of his teenage years were spent working as a handyman for a wealthy Cincinnati landowner. Like many African-Americans of his day, Morgan had to quit school at a young age in order to work. However, the teen-aged Morgan was able to hire his own tutor and continued his studies while living in Cincinnati. In 1895, Morgan moved to ],
where he worked repairing sewing machines for a clothing manufacturer. In 1920 he helped to found the Cleveland ] newspaper.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History|url=http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CCP|work=The CLEVELAND CALL & POST|publisher=Case Western Reserve University|accessdate=09/03/11}}</ref> He married Madge Nelson in 1896, but the marriage ended in divorce. Word of his skill at fixing things and experimenting spread quickly
throughout Cleveland, opening up various opportunities for him.

In 1907, Morgan opened his own sewing machine and shoe repair shop. It was the first of several businesses he would own. In 1908, Morgan helped found the ''Cleveland Association of Colored Men''. That same year, he married Mary Anne Hassek, and together they had three sons. In 1909, he expanded his business to include a tailoring shop. The company made coats, suits, dresses, and other clothing. Morgan experimented with a liquid that gave sewing machine needles a high polish and prevented the needle from scorching fabric as it sewed. Accidentally, Morgan discovered that this liquid not only straightened fabric but also hair. He made the liquid into a cream and began the ''G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Company''. Morgan also made a black hair oil dye and a curved-tooth iron comb in 1910, to straighten hair.

==Safety hood==
]
Garrett Morgan patented a safety hood and smoke protector after seeing firefighters struggling from the smoke they encountered in the line of duty<ref name=PBS/> and hearing about the ].{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} His device used a wet sponge to filter out smoke and cool the air.<ref>, ], Feb. 1997.</ref> He was able to sell his invention around the country, sometimes using the tactic of having a hired white actor take credit rather than revealing himself as its inventor.<ref name=PBS/> For demonstrations of the device, he sometimes adopted the disguise of "Big Chief Mason", a purported full-blooded Indian from the ] in Canada."<ref>{{cite book | last = Editors | first = Time-Life | title = Inventive Genius | publisher = Time-Life Books | location = New York | year = 1991 | isbn = 0809476991 | page = 40}}</ref> His invention became known nationally when he and three other men used it to save several men after a 1916 tunnel explosion under ].<ref name=FHWA>{{cite web|url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/education/gamorgan.htm |title=An American Inventor, Federal Highway Administration |publisher=Fhwa.dot.gov |date= |accessdate=2009-05-19}}</ref> Cleveland's newspapers and city officials initially ignored Morgan's personal acts of heroism as the first to rush into the tunnel for the rescue, and it took years for the city to recognize his contributions.<ref name=PBS/> Eventually, Morgan was awarded a gold Medal of Bravery by prominent citizens of ] and a gold medal for bravery from the ].<ref name=FHWA/>

Morgan's invention of the safety hood was featured on the television show "Inventions that Shook the World".<ref>http://www.discoverychannel.ca/episodeList.aspx?sid=33683</ref>

==Traffic signal==
{{See also|Traffic signal#History}}
] of Morgan's signal]]
The first American-made automobiles were introduced to consumers just before the turn of the 20th Century, and pedestrians, bicycles, animal-drawn wagons and motor vehicles all had to share the same roads. Between 1913 and 1921, a number of versions of traffic signaling devices, both mechanical and automated, were patented by various inventors. Of these, only a few saw production or implementation on public roads. Morgan's device, first patented in 1923, was a hand-cranked, manually-operated mechanical semaphore signal.<ref name=FHWA/> His device had two key safety features: having an intermediate "all stop" signal state to give moving traffic time to stop before signalling cross traffic to proceed, and having a "half mast" position to indicate general caution at times when the device operator was not present.<ref name=FHWA/> Morgan's device was widely used, and the patent rights for its design were eventually sold to ] for $40,000.<ref name=PBS> ].org.</ref> In 1963, shortly before his death, Morgan was awarded a citation for the traffic signal by the U.S. Government.<ref name=FHWA/>
He invented the first automatic traffic light too.

==Awards and recognitions==
]

At the Emancipation Centennial Celebration in ] in August 1963, Morgan was nationally recognized. Although in ill-health, and nearly blind, he continued to work on his inventions; one of his last was a self-extinguishing cigarette, which employed a small plastic pellet filled with water, placed just before the filter.

In ], the Prince George's County Board renamed Summerfield Boulevard to Garrett A. Morgan Boulevard in his honor. The adjacent ] ] was going to be named Summerfield, but was consequently renamed as well. Also named in his honor is the Garrett A. Morgan Cleveland School of Science in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2002, scholar ] included Morgan on his list of ].<ref>Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8.</ref>

Morgan was a ] (Excelsior Lodge No. 11 of ])<ref>{{cite book|title=Proceedings of the 129th Communication of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ohio F&AM|year=1978|publisher=The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ohio|location=Columbus, Ohio|pages=70}}</ref> and an honorary member of ] fraternity.

Morgan died on August 27, 1963, at the age of 86, and is buried at ] in ].

==References==
{{reflist|2}}


==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*
* Education.dot.gov
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*
*
* - The Black Inventor Online Museum
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*{{Find a Grave|1311|name=Garrett A. Morgan}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see ]. -->
| NAME = Morgan, Garrett A.
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1877-03-04
| PLACE OF BIRTH = ]
| DATE OF DEATH = 1963-07-27
| PLACE OF DEATH = ]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Garrett A.}}
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Revision as of 18:58, 5 January 2012

My balls stink like WWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH