Day 6: Happy Black History Month

Shamya

Can you imagine a world without traffic lights ik I couldn't, well On November 20, 1923 the United States gave Garrett Augustus Morgan a patent to improve the already existing traffic light. The original traffic light was in London and only had two options "stop" and "go" this caused many accidents. Garrett Augustus Morgan came up with a solution by adding another option by telling drivers to wait it could decrease the amount of accidents. However the 3 way traffic light was not his only invention he also invented the gas mask in 1914 and the gas mask was a huge success especially to firefighters, soldiers during WWII and to those workers in a Cleveland tunnel explosion. In 1916, workers at a tunnel in Cleveland were hit with a bunch of natural gas when he heard about the explosion Morgan and a friend of his put on their mask and went on a rescue mission which resulted in them saving two people and finding four bodies. However despite his heroic efforts, Morgan did not get any praise nor did he get a thank you in fact due to him being a hero it actually hurt his business because people stopped buying his mask once they realized he was black. But wait there's more because not only was Garrett Augustus Morgan an inventor, and a hero he was a business man and he marketed his very own hair care products including a straighten comb along with hair straightening comb in 1910 he eventually earned enough money to do other things such as establish his own black newspaper line called the Cleveland call in 1920, and in 1908 he co founded the Cleveland Association of Colored Men. Garrett Augustus Morgan did not let the discrimination he faced due to his skin color stop him he still continued to invent and give back to the black community from running his own hair care business(even though it encourage black women to straighten their hair due to European standards of beauty instead of embracing their natural beauty) to inventing the gas mask which helped hundreds of soldiers during WWII when toxic gas was being released, to even today in 2021 the traffic light that Morgan help make better is still being used to prevent accidents. So Garrett Augustus Morgan we thank you.

Also I want to say thank you because now im a premium member so ig admin heard you guys thanks for the support and recommendations i really appreciate it