The son of former slaves, Morgan was born in 1877 in Kentucky.

He later moved to Cincinnati and then Cleveland, where he owned and operated a sewing-machine repair business and earned quite a reputation as a technician. A multi-talented businessman, Morgan went on to establish the newspaper The Cleveland Call. In early 20th century Cleveland, as in other major U.S. cities, the roads were clogged with pedestrians, bicycles, animal-drawn wagons, and those newfangled automobiles. There were no traffic laws to speak of, and chaos ruled the streets. Accidents were frequent. After witnessing one such traffic accident, Morgan felt compelled to improve the situation. The result? The precursor to the modern traffic signal, patented on November 23, 1923. Not quite your contemporary street light, "The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This 'third position' halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely." His light was used throughout North America before being replaced by today's familiar red/yellow/green traffic lights. Morgan eventually sold the rights to his invention to General Electric. He also received a government citation for his invaluable invention. Morgan's genius was not limited to the world of traffic control; later inventions included a zigzag device for sewing machines, the first chemical human hair straightener, and a gas mask (which he used to rescue several men trapped in an underground tunnel after an explosion).

lthough he could have relied on the income his Gas Masks generated, Morgan felt compelled to try to solve safety problems of the day. One day he witnessed a traffic accident when an automobile collided with a horse and carriage. The driver of the automobile was knocked unconscious and the horse had to be destroyed. He set out to develop a means of automatically directing traffic without the need of a policeman or worker present. He patented an automatic traffic signal which he said could be "operated for directing the flow of traffic" and providing a clear and unambiguous "visible indicator." Satisfied with his efforts, Morgan sold the rights to his device to the General Electric Company for the astounding sum of $40,000.00 and it became the standard across the country. Today's modern traffic lights are based upon Morgan's original design.
because of his contribution, the world is certainly a much safer place. Garrett Augustus Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky on March 4, 1877. Morris started working at the age of 14 after 6 years of schooling. His interest in mechanics was sparked by a job as a sewing-machine adjustor for a clothing manufacturer. He received wide recognition for his outstanding contributions to public safety. In 1923, Morgan received a patent for his new concept (U. S. 1,475,024 issued in 1923) a traffic signal to regulate vehicle movement in city areas. GO and STOP signs were systematically raised and lowered at intersections to bring order out of the chaos of regulating pedestrian and vehicle traffic on city streets. In years that followed his invention, after he sold it to the General Electric Company for $40,000, he received patents in England and Canada for similar signal devices. Morgan's inventions were eventually replaced with the light signal devices used today.