Fresh Air in the Tunnel:
Garrett Morgan's Path
by Frederick B. Hudson
In the midst of panic and death, the businessman strode through a ten
foot wide tunnel. Twenty-one persons had already died from the natural gas
fumes that choked bystanders. But the businessman had a defense-a safety
helmet of his own invention. He handed out models of his helmet to his
brother and several firemen. The helmeted crew was able to save six
unconscious people.
Photo courtesy of The Western Reserve
Historical Society
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Did this dramatic true event happen on September 11, 2001 at the World
Trade Center? Or at the Pentagon? No It happened in Cleveland, Ohio on July
24, l916. The city of Cleveland had constructed underground tunnels into Lake
Erie for fresh water supply. Workmen digging in the tunnel hit a pocket of
natural gas which caused the explosion and the subsequent fatal gas leak.
The businessman-inventor who arrived was one Garrett Morgan, son of a
former slave. This man had only six years of formal schooling but established
a sewing machine repair shop, then a tailoring enterprise. Next he organized
in 1913 the G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Company to market a complete line of
hair care products. In 1920 he started a newspaper, The Cleveland Call.
Morgan designed his safety helmet in 1912 to protect humans from smoke
and other toxic substances. After the Cleveland Water Works rescue, requests
came from fire departments and mining companies for demonstrations. During
World War I the design was improved and it became the standard field
equipment of United States soldiers.
That recognition did not slow Morgan's drive to use his natural talents.
In 1923, he designed the modern traffic light with its distinctive yellow
caution light between the red stop and the green go signals, thus allowing
time for motorists to slow down and for pedestrians to hurry at
intersections.
Photo of Garrett Morgan courtesy of The Western Reserve Historical Society
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His contributions to safe transportation were recognized in 1988 when the
then U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater(the first black to
hold that position) established the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Futures
Program. This program promotes the exchange of ideas, information, and
assistance in transportation safety, education, employment, and business
development of for disadvantaged youth in urban areas.
Continuing Garrett Morgan's prowess as a creator of jobs, the U.S.
Department of Transportation in partnership with the National Urban League
has established a demonstration project to serve as national model program
for employment in urban areas through state governments, unions and public
and private enterprises.
Garret Morgan's descent into a gas-filled tunnel serves as a road map for
our lives: To see a need without concern for remuneration, to invent a
solution, to risk a descent into danger ever aware of the need for a yellow
light of caution, then to emerge into the fresh air of promise and hope. A
prototype of genius, of heroism, of leadership, of legends.
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