Garrett Augustus Morgan, born in Paris, Kentucky March 4, 1877, dead August 27, 1963, invented a respiratory protective hood and a version of the traffic signal. He was the son of liberated slaves and in his youth he worked on the family farm. In his teens he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio searching for a job. In 1895 he moved to Cleveland where he worked repairing sewing machines and in 1907 he set up his own sewing equipment and repair shop. In 1909 he expanded to also make coats, suits and dresses. At that time his company had 32 employees. In 1920 he started the newspaper Cleveland Call. He became quite wealthy and is reported to have been the first African-American to own an automobile.
On November 20, 1923 he was granted a US patent for a traffic signal. His traffic signal was a T-shaped pole with three positions, stop, go and all stop (to allow people on foot to cross the street). Garrett Morgan is sometimes mistakenly credited as the original (or most important) inventor of the traffic light. See [1] vs. [1].
