Black History Month gives us a chance to highlight the contributions of African-Americans within the transportation industry. But any month would be a good time to learn about Garrett Morgan, a prolific inventor whose achievements include one we see everyday.
In the middle of his career as an inventor and businessman, Morgan improved the standard traffic signal, adding the yellow light to the existing green and red lights. This enhancement made intersections safer by creating a buffer between stopping and going, reducing the number of vehicles entering intersections from different directions at the same time.
Morgan saw the need for the yellow light in 1923 after witnessing a violent collision between a horse-drawn carriage and a car at an intersection in Cleveland. He patented his invention and then sold the idea to General Electric who mass produced the signals for the growing road construction industry.
Morgan earned $40,000 from the patent which, in today’s dollars, would be the equivalent of almost $700,000 — a level of financial success that had eluded the inventor earlier in his career. As an African-American in the early 20th century, Morgan struggled to bring his inventions to the market.
For example, in 1914, when Morgan patented another safety device — an early version of today’s gas masks — he hired a white actor to pose as the device’s inventor. This public relations stunt helped increase sales to fire departments.
Regardless of his financial success, Morgan had a knack for making the world safer. Along with the enhanced traffic signal and the breathing device, Morgan also made sewing machines less prone to catching fire. And along the way he accidentally discovered a product that straightens hair.
Morgan died in 1963 at age 86 and has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Garrett Morgan’s ability to take existing practices and make them safer exemplifies one of our corporate values at InfraStripe. That he succeeded in making transportation safer, despite the challenges of racial inequality, makes him a shining example of the value of perseverance.