Morgan, Garrett A., Black Inventor Poster, c. 1970s
Entry/Object ID
AM2020.1.82
Scope and Content
Morgan, Garrett A., Black Inventor Poster, c. 1970s. Color poster no.8 in the Pepsi Cola Black Presence in Invention poster series. Illustration of Moran as young man and older man. Shows drawings of some of his inventions: Traffic signal, firefighter's gas mask.
Legend:
Garrett A. Morgan
for Him the World Stands Still
"Born in 1877 into an impoverished family of eleven children in rural Kentucky, the man who was to invent the traffic signal had to leave school after the 5th grade. But he was determined to continue his education.
In 1895 he became a sewing machine repairman and taught himself everything about the business. By 1907 he had his own sewing machine company and two years later expanded into clothing manufacturing. His career as an inventor began accidentally, but required great imagination and ingenuity. While developing a lubricant for his sewing machine needles he discovered that it smoothed and straightened hair.
The G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Company is still in business today. In 1910 Morgan developed the "breathing device" and in 1916 he demonstrated its value by rescuing workers trapped in a tunnel under Lake Erie. His heroic exploit made news. His 'device' has been making news ever since: it is the firefighter's gas mask.
As business led to invention, so inventions created new business. The National Safety Device Company was Garrett Morgan's next enterprise--and fully lived up to its name: in 1923 the small town, self-taught entrepreneur patented the invention that taught the big city how to function: obey your traffic light."
Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
Poster
Nomenclature Class
Advertising Media
Nomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication Objects
Search Terms
Black History, Black Inventors, Firefighter's Gas Mask, Traffic Signal