Best Known For Garrett Morgan blazed a trail for African-
American inventors with his many patents, including those for a
hair-straightening product, a breathing device, and an improved
sewing machine and traffic signal. Think you know about
Biography? Answer questions and see how you rank against other
players.Play Now With only an elementary school education,
Garrett Morgan, born in Kentucky on March 4, 1877, began his
career as a sewing-machine mechanic. He went on to patent
several inventions, including an improved sewing machine and
traffic signal, a hair-straightening product, and a respiratory
device that would later provide the blueprint for WWI gas masks.
The inventor died on August 27, 1963, in Cleveland, Ohio. Born
in Paris, Kentucky, on March 4, 1877, Garrett Morgan was the
seventh of 11 children. His mother, Elizabeth (Reed) Morgan, was
of Indian and African descent, and the daughter of a Baptist
minister. It is uncertain whether Morgan's father was
Confederate Colonel John Hunt Morgan or Sydney M