An Old Timey Podcast - 101: How a Prolific Black Inventor Hid his Race

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

Garrett Morgan was a prolific inventor. He invented the gas mask. The three-way traffic light. The self-extinguishing cigarette. He even created a hair care line. But, as a Black man, he had to be creative in how he presented his inventions to the public. He knew that some people would refuse to buy his invention if they discovered that it had been invented by a Black man. So? Sometimes he hired white actors to play the role of Garrett Morgan. Sometimes he posed as his own assistant. In short, he did what he had to do to get people to take his inventions seriously.Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Overcoming discrimination by consumers during the age of segregation: The example of Garrett Morgan,” by Lisa D. Cook for Business History Review “Guardian of the public safety: Garrett A. Morgan and the Lake Erie Crib Disaster” by William M King for the Journal of Negro History“Garrett Morgan,” National Inventors Hall of Fame“Garrett Morgan,” Encyclopedia.com“Of courage and caution,” United States Patent and Trademark Office“Black inventor Garrett Morgan saved countless lives with gas mask and improved traffic lights,” Scientific American“Gas mask inventor dim memory here,” by Jim Strang for The Plain Dealer“Wakeman Country Club” Green Book Cleveland“Garrett Morgan,” Biography.comAre you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

You ever notice how debt has the worst timing? Like, it waits until 2 a.m. to remind you it exists. But getting help doesn't have to wait at the Credit Counseling Society. Find out for yourself. Speak to someone who listens, respects your choices, and helps you create a plan to get debt under control. Don't wait. The sooner you call, the more options you have,

and the faster you'll get back to a good night's sleep. The Credit Counseling Society. When debt's got you, you've got us. Hear ye, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Kristen Caruso. And I'm Normie C. And on this episode, I'll be talking about an inventor.

Oh, fun. Everyone, I did a little flourish, a little flair, because inventing things is cool. I like inventors. I do, too. Yeah. Remember that windshield wiper guy? Yeah, he had a rough go of it.

He had a real rough go. He was a little kooky, but really interesting story. Listen, if I invented something that changed the way we drive and then I didn't get the money for it, I'd go cocoa bananas too. Oh, that's fair. It's a good thing. I'm not good at science or math or anything that, you know, really changes the tides, you know. You don't think you would ever invent something? No, maybe I would invent something, but like in terms of something really scientific and complicated.

I'm just thinking. You know what? Okay, here's the kind of thing that I would invent. It would be one of those things that is a great idea. Like, what if just one drop of blood told us what was going wrong with you or great with you? And all it took was one drop. And all the scientists say, ma'am, we've got to have more than that. And I say, I'm a lady with a dream. And I can talk to male investors in a deep voice.

And they're a little turned on. And they give me lots of money. This sounds really familiar. It's a fascinating blueprint. Is something you just came up with? Well, someone else walked so I could run, but I do have a plan. You think I'm going to podcast forever? No, no.

So you're going to repeat the mistakes of the past. We love to hear it. Hopefully with better results. That's not going to go well for you. Cool. So an inventor. Yes. All right.

But first, we have to talk about our Patreon. Why? Why when you have to say something? Do you slow down and make it seem like someone's in big trouble or you're about to give us terrible? People are in big trouble because they need to be supporting us on Patreon. So not everybody. But if you're not supporting us on Patreon. You're in big trouble.

Talk to Daddy. Norm's very mad. Norm, tell him. Tell him. Let him know. All I'm saying is for $5 a month, you get our entire back catalog of bonus episodes. Plus you get to chat with us in the Discord. Mm-hmm.

And if you really want to step up your game, just give us $10 a month. Yeah, it gives you early ad-free episodes, trivia, discounts on merch, cards and stickers, what's not to love. Yeah. So if you're driving in your car right now and you don't support us on Patreon, Norm demands that you pull this car over. Pull over. I just want you to reflect. Uh-huh. I want you to think about what you're doing.

Wow. Okay. I think people are going to straighten up and fly right, don't you? They better. Coming from me, you know how disciplinary and threatening I can be. Yeah. You will personally spank every single person who's not a patron. I will.

Boy, your hand's going to be chapped, my friend. I will. Yep, just send me your address. I will be over to spank you. As soon as I can't. As soon as I can. I have to put in all the addresses in Google Maps. It's going to be a tour.

It'll set up the route. I'll be traveling all over the world. Spanking people. Well, yeah. I mean, literally, when you think of the percentage of people worldwide who are on our Patreon, you know, it's not that big. I hate to say, it's not that big. Also, there are a lot of people who haven't even heard of us.

So you're going to be spanking people who have no idea why you're there. Right. Norm, you might get locked up. I might meet some interesting people. I feel like I've spanked this person before. I feel like this is not a punishment for this person. They keep emailing me. I'm still not signed up.

I still haven't signed up for the Patreon. This is a weird transition into a very important episode that I've prepared for you, Norm. Okay. I'm sorry about that. Folks, I also have to admit I have not rehearsed this episode. Uh-oh. I went on a little girl's trip with my sister. Today I'm drinking green juice.

Woo! And coffee and water, because, you know, multiple beverages. It's going to be a little chaotic today. It looks like high-seat ecto cooler. What the hell is that? The Ghostbusters. Oh, yes, it does. Or was it orange?

I thought it was green. Well, slimer, I think, did have this look. Folks, don't hate me for being a healthy gal. Yeah, it was green. Yeah, I told you. Celery, cucumber, apple. That's what's going on here. It was good.

Kristen gave me one, too. That's right. She said I need to start looks maxing. I said, well, whatever you said. Yeah, yeah. What I need here is an alpha bro. Yeah. An alpha bro who runs around spanking people, left right and center, that's what alpha bros do. Drinking green juice and working on that chin line.

I don't know what can be done about a chin line, but I suspect if you keep looks maxing, you're about to find out. All I need is some clothes pins. Oh, God. I just kind of attach to you. Okay. You know, if you're not on the video level on Patreon, consider yourself lucky. I didn't want to see your skin stretch like that. That was very alarming.

Okay, ready? Tell us about an inventor. I will. Picture it! October of 1914, New Orleans, Louisiana. It was day two of the convention for the International Association of Fire Engineers. This was a very important convention for a group of people who were doing really dangerous work. There were speeches and dinners, and best of all, demonstrations.

In New Orleans. What a city. I'm sorry, I keep touching this. Why are you touching the mic so much? Well, I'm trying to get it right at the exact right level. I feel like I'm a heavy breather, and I don't want the listeners to be feeling like they're getting a story told to them by some creep. And yet, they just listen to you, threaten to spank all of them. Like, basically all of them except for 4,000 of them are getting spanked. Right, right.

Yeah, we don't want to hear some heavy breathing. Yeah, on this totally not creepy podcast. It's fine to be threatened with spankings, but heavy breathing is where I draw the line. Oh, boy, oh boy. In those days, long before the good Lird Above invented midroll ads, if you had a product that you wanted to sell, you needed a solid demonstration. And that day, with firefighters from all over the nation gathered in New Orleans, inventors were there showing off their latest innovations in fire safety.

The National Safety Device Company of Cleveland, Ohio held a particularly memorable demonstration. It was rife with dramatic flair. A man named Charles Salon ran the show. He'd served as Cleveland's director of public works, but he was in New Orleans to demonstrate a groundbreaking new invention that would ultimately save countless lives all over the world. Water? He invented water in 1914. He invented the hose that gets water onto that fire. Listen, the hose had been around for a long time.

That's the truth. Uh-huh. Before 1914, people didn't drink water. They drank that high sea stuff you were bringing up. No, no, I'm saying, I feel like before 1914, they just hauled buckets up. And they're like, there's got to be a better way. And so this guy invented a hose. No, no, sir.

Okay, what is it? Calm down. They called it the safety hood. See, the safety hood, or as we might now call it, the gas mask. Why did I say might call it? We absolutely call it a gas mask. We never call it a safety hood. He invented the gas mask.

Yeah. Well, maybe. It had been invented by a Cleveland man named Hermann. Sorry, what? Herring was a brilliant man and a lifelong inventor. I'm sorry. Could you say his name? Heron Morgan.

What? Why can't you say his name? I did say his name. Is it tough to pronounce? Maybe you need to clean out your ears. You know, I know they say Q-tips are bad for us, but you know what? We're kind of wild, and that's this household. We're still using them.

You said, Herm, Hur. Yeah. What's his name? Hermann. What are you doing? Listen, all you need to know about this inventor, Norm, is that he invented something. Is this the guy we're learning about? We don't even know his name?

I just told you his name. And you know what? frankly if you want to know more about him you should know that if he were here today he'd say to you you're on thin ice buddy what you're on thin ice buddy or maybe watch it pal and then maybe he'd go off and play some pickleball i don't know what is happening in this if he were in a restaurant what the hell is going on he'd say now is it spicy what and if it was spicy he'd say no thing i don't understand i'm just trying to say that this is just an inventor and you know when you picture an inventor that's who you should be thinking of and

why don't you buy a damn safety hood because it will save lives okay and he plays pickleball i think he would yes yeah yeah he asks if dishes are spicy or not at restaurants and again i think he would say watch it pal watch you're on thin ice buddy you know if he heard you talking like this asking a bunch of questions about his name his identity and shit you know back off what i'm saying i don't know what is is going on, but I'm just going to let you roll with it. I guess we'll solve it eventually. That day for the demonstration, the National Safety Device Company set up a big canvas tent.

Inside the tent, they started a fire. And this was no wimpy fire. They fueled it with tar and formaldehyde and sulfur and also manure, which on this podcast we refer to as a great heaping pile of turds. Right, right. Buffalo chips. Remember buffalo chips from the Oregon Trail? The Oregon Trail, yeah.

Delicious. Delicious. Why don't we bring it back, I say. Didn't we have a commenter that was like asking about buffalo chips or? No, the commenter wanted to clarify that the pioneers were not scooping up soupy-poopy. It was hardened. Which I'm sorry, I'm a modern gal. I'm still grossed out by that.

I'm grossed out by the wet turds and the hard baked turds. I mean, you know, when the dogs use the bathroom in the backyard, if I let them solidify and get hard, I just pick them up with my bare hands because it's not a big deal anymore. Great. Give yourself the rim shot so people know you're kidding. They don't want you to come spank them with a hand that's caked in poo. I just picked up dog shit. Soon enough, the tent filled with smoke. Thick, black, nasty smoke.

A reporter for the local newspaper later wrote that the smoke was thick enough. to strangle an elephant. But Charles Salon assured the crowd that the National Safety Device Company's groundbreaking new device, the safety hood, would allow a person to enter that smoke-filled tent and emerge later unharmed. Well, hey, that's a big deal. It's huge. And this crowd had to be skeptical.

They knew that it was smoke inhalation, not usually fire itself that really killed people in these situations. In 1914, fires were very common. And thanks to the recent rise of factory work, fires were becoming more and more dangerous. And World War I is about to start. And though they're going to need some masks. Oh, excellent point, Norm. The infamous Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, which took place just a few years earlier,

had killed 146 people, mostly women and girls who'd immigrated to America and had been stuck working in terrible conditions. Conditions that turned out to be like a tinderbox. And the firefighters had been largely unable to help the women. They lacked the safety equipment that might have allowed them to enter a burning building and bring people out safely. Instead, they had to stand on the sidelines with hoses, which I regret to inform Norm, had been invented by then.

Well, you don't have to be regretful. Okay, it's cool that the hose was invented already. That is good? Yeah. Or they could stand. on the sidelines with sheets, hoping to catch the women and girls as they jumped. But this safety hood, if it worked, would change the game. There to demonstrate the effectiveness of this device was a man named Big Chief Mason. Ooh, now he sounds like a guy that knows stuff. Darn right,

he was described to the crowd as a, quote, full-blooded Indian who'd come to New Orleans all the way from the Walpole Reservation in Canada. Big Chief Mason put the device. on. It looked kind of like an astronaut's helmet up top and had a valve to release exhaled air. And two hoses emerged from the bottom of the hood. They hung down kind of like tusks. Cool. Those tusks met behind Big Chief Mason's back and they hung down all the way to the ground. That was important because the inventor of this device understood that the thing that killed people was smoke or more accurately the deadly. carbon monoxide that hung high in the air.

By extending that breathing tube to the floor, he had ensured that the person wearing the safety hood would be able to breathe the cleanest air possible. Charles explained to the crowd that the lower end of the hose had an absorbent material within it. So, before he went into that tent, Big Chief Mason dunked the hose in water. That wet, absorbent material prevented smoke and dust

from going into the tube. It also cooled the air that went into the hood. Oh, that's smart. So Big Chief Mason was all suited up, and the air in that tent was thick and smelled nasty. It was dangerous. But he went inside, and he stayed there, and he stayed there. Minutes passed.

Then more minutes. The crowd was amazed and maybe slightly concerned. How was this possible? Was that dude all right? But finally, after 20 minutes, Big Chief Mason emerged from that tent unharmed. Drinking a daquery. It was incredible.

The safety hood worked. It would change the game. It would save lives. The local newspaper dubbed the exhibit spectacular. And it was. People all over the nation were learning about the safety hood. But who gave the demonstration and how it was given depended largely on where the demonstration took place? because the truth was that the safety hood did work.

That was undeniable. But the safety hood's inventor, Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Are you going to ever say his name? I've already said it. I've been as clear as I can be, No. Okay, I'm about to get to it. Okay.

He knew that because he was a black man, there were a lot of people who would refuse to buy his device, refused to use his device, and who might even refuse to attend a demonstration of his device if they knew that the safety hood hadn't been invented by a white man. He had a very good reason to feel that way. Join me, won't you, for a quick racist tangent. Oh. Oh, it's so fun.

Everybody grab your hoods. Just kidding. I don't want to do that. I don't even own one. Okay, yeah, that should have been your first response. Norm instead of, no, I don't feel like it. It's all the way in the closet. I'm not going to the closet.

I went on a racist tangent this morning. Okay. In 1873, an inventor named Elijah McCoy invented an automatic lubricator for steam engines. It was sometimes referred to as an oil drip cup. The device was a big deal. It reduced train engine fires by nearly two thirds. Ooh, that is a big deal. In fact, it was so good that when a bunch of imitators flooded the market, people began asking for the real McCoy oil drip cup, which is why we have the saying the real McCoy.

Oh. Isn't that awesome? That is interesting. See, it's funny because I think we've talked about how a lot of these sayings and stuff have terrible racist origins. Yeah. This one, the real McCoy, all right, we love to see it. It's like, you know, when the George Forman Grill came out, they're a bunch of imitators. We all wanted the real George Forman Grill.

We did. But have you? I mean, I know I've shown you the comedy thing about like the person talking about how really that George Forman Grill was ridiculous. It didn't even have an on off switch. No. It just had one mode. You plugged it in and it came on and it had no temperature control. It was like, I'm just going to get hot.

I'm going to get super hot. Put food on me. At an angle, I'm impossible to wash, and yet we all had to have one. That thing was horrible to wash. I had to wash it as a kid. Oh, no. Nobody knows it was a try to see. Well, it came with this little plastic scraper that fit in the little grill gullies.

So you got to scrape all that out and, oh, it sucked to clean. But boy, did it make some good pork chops. And you know what? It built character, Norm. because look at where you are today, I think your grit and determination began by scraping a George Forming grill. It's how I'm able to travel the world and spank people

for not signing up for our Patreon. That requires grit and determination. Yeah. And I'm filled with determination. We can tell. People have asked for episodes on like old-timey phrases and their origins. So future topic?

Future topic. You're getting a freebie right now. Okay, so everyone is saying we want the real McCoy, we want the real McCoy. Everyone knows Elijah McCoy has made this game-changing oil drip cup. We love it. But when the real Elijah McCoy showed up on site and began installing the drip cup himself, sales of the device dropped dramatically. Because he was black. Yeah.

So what I'm trying to say here is that Garrett Morgan knew, probably intuitively, but also because you had real-life examples playing out in front of you, that being a black inventor came with risks. Sometimes Garrett Morgan took ownership of his invention. Other times, he posed as Big Chief Mason and let a white guy do all the talking. Wait. Oh, wait. Wait a second. Hold on right there.

Garrett Morgan. Yeah. Was Big Chief Mason? Yeah. So he pretended to be Native American? Yeah, we don't love this either. There's a lot of stuff going on. His mother.

was half black, half Native American. Obviously, this is not great. I don't know, man. It was 1914. It's for a good cause. There are no rules, baby. Okay, another thing I thought was interesting. You and I sometimes read academic papers for this podcast.

Boy, do we. And boy, can it be a slog. This academic paper, there were actually a couple I read on him that were fascinating. And I was really fascinated by this time period, you know, of course you've got all these inventors and there's all this discrimination. But it was interesting. Some groups weren't discriminated against in certain areas. And so it was seen as like, okay, Native Americans were seen as like, oh yeah, they know about fires. They know about certain types of medicine.

And so at these demonstrations, it was an asset to have a Native American or a, um, a black guy pretending to be a Native American saying I'm from Canada A, you know. You know, oh, you know, that reminds me of like tobacco companies with like Native American mascots or endorsements because it's like, yeah, yeah, Indians know about tobacco. They grow it. So another example is like Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben. Yep. So a lot of these companies were using these racist depictions of people. and as long as it was in a certain category, that was okay.

But find out that the inventor of the safety hood is a black guy, uh-oh, we're going to have some problems. Yeah. If it was a Native American, it's okay. Black guy invent it, not okay. Potentially. I don't know what would have been, how it would have been received in 1914. It's kind of hard for me to imagine that that would have been a-okay. So, yeah, sometimes he took ownership of the invention.

Sometimes he pretended to be Big Chief Mason. other times he claimed to be Garrett Morgan's assistant, letting people just imagine who the real Garrett Morgan was. This mysterious inventor. Oh, probably just a white guy, probably a guy who would say, watch it, buddy, you know? Or you're on thin ice, pal. So that's why you were saying all those wild things earlier. Wild things.

This is from my culture. These are things I know. Oh, your white culture, Kristen, interesting. Watch it, buddy. He did what a lot of people of color and a lot of women did back then. He found ways to ensure that the discrimination he faced as a person didn't impact his invention. And interestingly, that was kind of doable. For example, an inventor could use a patent attorney or a patent agent to represent them when they applied for a patent.

And that meant that people couldn't easily figure out an inventor's race. Okay, a thing that sucks about this, though, is scottom. have gone back and tried to figure out, like, who really invented some of these things? Sure. And it's genuinely hard to figure out because there were a lot of protections in place, including you didn't necessarily have to include your address or I believe zip codes hadn't been invented yet. And so you couldn't even kind of make assumptions based on where the person lived.

It really, the patents really allowed you to obscure who you were if you wanted to. Yeah, I've looked at a lot of patents. and even old-timey ones. Yeah, it was just like a name. Yeah. And no Facebook profile attached to it. Nothing. What's a researcher to do?

I want to see sexual preference on patents. Oh, okay. Favorite movie? Uh-huh. Favorite movie, of course. Yeah, I want more information on these patents and trademarks. Another strategy that people used? Let people think that someone else is running the show.

Especially back then, people like to say. see the person who invented the product. They wanted to hear the story of the invention. I am this way to this day. I am living in 1914 because I want to know, well, what happened that may just say there's got to be a better way? Of course. Yeah. Give me the eureka moment every time. I think that's why you like Shark Tank so much. Don't know. It's capitalism porn. Also, everyone, I just went to Bentonville, Arkansas, which talk about capitalist porn. I did enjoy myself. It's a whole place. That's where Walmart was invented. Yeah.

Future topic? We might talk about this in the Slop, because it was kind of like being in the Truman show. Boring. Oh, Norman, rude. No, no. I bet I've never been to Bentonville, but Kristen just went, and I'm excited to hear more about it on The Slop. Oh. Hashtag product placement.

Are we? The Slop. Are we placing? The Slop is our product, Kristen. Oh, okay. I thought we were like trying to do product placement for all of Walmart. They need our help. They need it.

They don't need our help. They're everywhere. So people wanted to see the person who invented the product. They wanted to hear the story. Right. So sometimes Garrett Morgan hired white actors to play the role of Garrett Morgan. Hell yeah. He also used a strategy that a lot of other prominent black entrepreneurs used at the time.

He partnered up with white businessmen. Okay, so for example, as soon as he received the patent for the safety hood, Garrett Morgan created the National Safety Device Company. He listed himself as the general manager of the company. Okay. But every other officer in the company was a very powerful white man. In that sense, he was able to promote his life-saving invention while kind of keeping his race a secret,

but also kind of getting the endorsement of all these other major figures. Yeah. It was protection. It's sad he had to do that. Oh, of course it's sad. like all these little loopholes and secret, you know, identities. And it's like, yeah, it sucks that our society was like that back then. We've changed completely.

We're in a utopia now. We're in a utopia now. You know, of course it's awful, but it's so fascinating to me. All the things people did, like, it's one thing to invent something. It's another thing to be really good at promoting it, which he was both. He was that rare combination of both. I was thinking about this the other day. Like, you know, sometimes you have like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Garrett Morgan was both. He was the showman and the inventor all tied into one, which is incredible and rare. And yet because of his race, he had to get really creative. Yeah. And like if he'd just been allowed to just fully be himself, move over, Thomas. Edison, you're a stupid bitch. No, my apologies to Thomas Edison. Whoa.

Uncalled for. No, but you know what I mean? Yeah. Because this guy's going to invent some other things here, and I think you'll all be very impressed. I keep thinking about that episode of Atlanta where that like 18-year-old

black kid is like, I'm actually a 38-year-old white man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like wearing khakis and a button up. We need to re-watch Atlanta. Oh, I love that show so much. So Garrett Morgan sadly has to hide his identity, but it's so he can make sure his inventions are a success. That's right.

Big boy. I'm sorry. I don't know why I called you Big Boy. You always call me Big Boy. I think it's because I secretly want you to have a tray of hamburgers at all times. So we keep our drinks in the basement. And, you know, if I go down in the basement. We're Midwest rich, people.

We've got a little fridge in the basement. A little fridge just for beverages. And so I'll ask Kristen, hey, do you want to drink from the fridge in the basement? Don't tell them. And she'll say, yeah. And I'll say, what flavor do you want? Because we get Spindrift. Comes in many flavors.

I'll ask what flavor do you want? And Kristen, 100% of the time, every time replies, surprise me, big boy. Has the charm worn off for Norm? Yes, it absolutely has. No, I actually, I expect it now. Uh-huh. I don't even know why I ask you anymore what flavor do you want, because your response is always... It's because you want to hear it. You want to hear. Surprise me, big boy.

But it's funny the other day, Kristen asked me, do you want to drink? And she asked what flavor I would. And I replied, surprise me, big boy. And Kristen didn't like that very much. Listen, it can't go both ways. I can dish it out. I can't take it. I don't want to be called the big boy in my house. That's fair. Little boy only, please. What if I said surprise me, little lady? Oh, that's cute. Oh, see?

Okay. You do sometimes wish you were four foot two. No, five foot two. Five foot two is the most adorable height for a lady to be. Oh my gosh, I'd be dainty as fuck. I would buy shoes that were a little too big for me just so I could run and accidentally step out of them. And then I go, oh, no. You want to jump for the pancake mix on the top shelf at the grocery store.

Excuse me, help me. I just can't reach this. No, but I, there are advantages to being 5 foot 10. Mm-hmm. I like being mildly intimidating when I want to be. Absolutely. It's a real mask I have to put on, but I've put it on several times. Ooh.

Yeah, you saw. You saw. I just scared the patrons. Now they're all going to leave and you're going to have to spank them to get them all back on here. We get a mass exodus of patrons just because they want to be spanked. You freaks. Okay, let's get back to the story, please. Yeah, please.

Okay. I'm interested in learning more about GER-Mor-G. No, we can say his name now because I've revealed it. Okay, thank you. Garrett Morgan. Thank you, Kristen. You're welcome.

I got time you gave him credit. I thought it was cute that I did it that way. Mm-hmm. Please clap. Okay, so, oh, you know what? I fudged it all up here because I had some thoughts in my script here, and I set them out loud all out of order.

But anyway, here's my love. little joke about Steve Waz and Steve Jobs. Because of his race, Garrett Morgan couldn't just throw on a turtleneck and a pair of jeans and hop on a stage. But you know something. Even in saying that, I'm kind of lying. Because by the time Garrett Morgan began

promoting the safety hood, he was already a famous inventor. Oh? His face and his home address because things were nuts back then were plastered all over his advertisements. What else was he? selling? I'm about to tell you, big boy. You know, it is funny. Me and my buddy, Sean,

love a home improvement show from the 90s called Ron Hazleton's house calls. You do love that show. You too are so weird. Ron Hazleton. Sorry, Sean. Rest in peace. Ron Hathleton passed away. I think last year. But it was so funny. If you Google Ron Hesleton house calls, Yeah. His home address just pops up because that was where he listed his business as. So you could just go visit Ron Hazleton. So Sean and I would always joke about just knocking on his door. That is so wild.

We love you, Ron. So obviously that's wild. But Garrett Morgan back in the day literally on the advertisements that would run in the newspaper. Yeah, that's even more wild. But I think it was part of the sign of the times that like there are all these products flooding the market. There are very few regulations. So if you want to trust somebody, if you want to build credibility, hey, here's my home freaking address.

Knock on my door if you have any problems. Night or day. Well, you know, travel was a little harder back then. So maybe it was less risky. And maybe he just liked making new friends. Maybe he was into spanking. We can't rule it out. So his face and home address were plastered all over these advertisements.

but they were advertisements for a product that white people didn't buy. And in that sense, Garrett Morgan was like an influencer who was very famous to like a small amount of people, but a complete unknown to the general population. So Norm, when you go on your spanking campaign, some people will be like, my God, the gaming historian. And other people will be like, this random freak. It's not random because they have to reach out to me with their address. They know I'm coming. But see, I like, I guess we're having a conflict of ideas because I like the idea of you spanking literally everyone on earth who is not a patron.

But you're talking about a much smaller undertaking, which is like people who listen but are on the fence. They listen, they're on the fence, and they reach out to me to let me know that they are not supporting us on Patreon. Then I go spank them. Okay. Okay. Can I ask a question? Sure. What products was he selling?

It was towards black customers? Yeah. What was he selling? You really think I'm not going to tell you? I figure you would have told me by now. You know what? Someone insisted on telling a bunch of side stories about being a big boy and wanting to spank people and who specifically should spank. So this is frankly all on you.

I have a great track record of staying on topic all the time. All right. I will shut. Just try to get me off track. I dare you. I will shut my mouth. mouth and listen. Oh. Okay, so I will get to that. I'm about to get to that, I swear. But in the meantime, you should know at this moment, he's unknown to the general population. But what Garrett Morgan didn't

know and what he couldn't have known was that pretty soon, a deadly disaster in the city of Cleveland would change everything. People would call on him. They would need him. They would need his device. And by answering that call, he would find himself in the national spotlight. But first, how did we get here? Okay. Okay, Garrett Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky in 1877, during Reconstruction. He was the seventh of 11 children. His father, Sydney, had been enslaved.

His mother, Eliza, was a preacher's daughter. Garrett Morgan was born in a strange time. He didn't have a lot of opportunities, but his opportunity. but his opportunities were so much greater than what his parents had experienced. Can you imagine you couldn't complain to your dad if he had literally been enslaved? Yeah, yeah. It's no comparison there. Garrett Morgan was only able to attain a sixth grade education,

but learning was very important to him. He was curious, he was ambitious, he was creative, and when he was 14 years old, he crossed the Ohio. River for Cincinnati. He wanted more opportunities, and he found them there, sort of. He got a job as a handyman for a wealthy white landowner. He didn't make much money at that job, but what little extra he had he spent on a tutor. And after a few years, he moved to Cleveland, where he got a job sweeping floors at the Roots and McBride Company. It was a wholesale distributor of dry goods, which I know you love a dry goods store. Oh, dry goods store. And imagine a wholesale

distributor. It's just dry goods as far as the I can see. They're like the, they're what makes the, uh, the gears turn in the dry goods industry. Darn right. Mm-hmm. Behind the scenes. You know, I know this is not correct at all, but when I think of dry goods, I just think of dry beans, just barrels of dry beans. That is very accurate. Are you serious? Why do you think they called it a dry goods store. Well, yeah, but it wasn't just beans. You think they're selling a bunch of milk. I know they're not selling wet beans, but I'm like, why does my brain go to barrels

of dry beans? Crackers. Yes, but crackers are not beans. Tools. The more you know. Tool, yes. Okay. Spices.

Listen. Flower. We don't have time to name all the dry things we can think of. That's true. So that was a big deal. because in addition to beans and crackers and cornmeal and whatever else, they also sold a lot of clothing. They made a lot of clothing.

So the place was just chock full of sewing machines. And while he was there, Garrett Morgan showed how industrious he could be. He taught himself how to use the sewing machines and eventually how to repair them. And pretty soon he became the store's only black adjuster. Oh, so he repaired the sewing machines. Yeah. I always admire people that throw themselves completely into a very specific, like, thing. Yeah.

You're like that. Not on that level, though. Well, I mean, yeah, his livelihood's on the line. So I think that's fueling part of it. But I mean, I do think you're a lot like this. You're very curious and you're creative and... Oh, wow. Thank you. Oh, my goodness.

No, like there's a guy on YouTube I watch. who, I don't know what his day job is, but he just loves repairing small engines. Yeah. And so he, like, has all these videos on, like, how to repair this lawnmower or this, like, edger or this leaf blower. And it's like, man, that's so cool that he just knows. And, you know, that's such a specific thing to repair.

Yeah. I don't know. I really admire that. He's a tinkerer, right? A tinkerer. Yeah. I respect the hell out of the tinkerers. Tinkerers and vegetables.

vegetarians. Me? I throw it out and buy new. And that is why the planet is important. No, Kristen, you're kind of like it because if I have a question about skin care, I'm coming to you. You know it all. Folks, don't zoom in on this screen and see all my acne as a 40-year-old woman. But yeah, I do know some things about skin care.

My skin doesn't always show it, you know. It's shy. It's like, let's hide her knowledge under a couple pimples. Keep her humble. person's got some good skin. Okay, that's enough. So that job, or maybe his previous job as a handyman, or who knows, maybe something even earlier than that,

got Garrett Morgan thinking about how things work and how he might make them work even better. Because he worked repairing sewing machines, he came up with what would be his first invention. It was a belt fastener for sewing machines. He sold it in 1901 for $50. adjusted for inflation, that's like $1,000. So what does that do?

Okay, I looked into it briefly. I knew you would ask me this. I was afraid, truth be told, I was afraid you were going to ask me about the oil drip cup and how exactly it had helped steam engines with Elijah McCoy, and I was going to tell you to get effed, buddy. No, it's like a belt fastener, so it's like it keeps some stuff together. So a belt fastener is a belt fastener. Yeah, and that's how we define things.

Very good. Yes. Cool. Thank you for that explanation. We could all Google it, and I did Google it, and I was bored by the definition. Okay, so you lost interest. What you need to know is he knew a lot about sewing machines, and this was his first invention. Got it 50 bucks.

Fine. Well, we'll let it slide this time, but if something else comes up and you don't know. I guarantee it will come up again. Okay, great. It likely set him on the road to success. success, Norm, because within just a few years, he started his own business repairing and selling sewing machines. See, that's what I'm talking about. What?

Yeah, getting into that niche thing where you're like an expert in it. I think that's so cool. And you know what? It did pretty well because within a year of opening that business, he had enough money to buy a home and bring his mother to live in Cleveland. Yeah, that's awesome. And I'm thinking about the time period. And it's like, yeah, sewing machines were. Huge back then.

They were everything. If you go to an antique store, you are bound to come across a singer-sewing machine from the 1910s or 1920s. And it's got a belt-fassener on it, and we know exactly what that is because we listen to this podcast. We understand it completely. Kristen explained it very clearly. Perfectly. Perfectly. If you don't understand it, that's on you.

And you know what? Double spankings for you. If you look up belt-fastener on Google, it'll say, belt-fastener. It's a belt-faster. Noun. Belt-fastener. That's what the definition says. If you want further information, Google just tells you, mind your own business, okay?

No, you know what it just says? Boring. That's what it says. I'm just now realizing my aunt Denise, who is an accomplished lady. She'll probably know what a belt fastener is. She's screaming it at her TV right now. Yeah. I promise you.

She has screamed the actual definition multiple times. and her definition does not include it's a belt fastener. She's getting so mad she has hurled a belt fastener at the television and smashed it to pieces. She has quickly sewn a quilt that says, Kristen, do better research. And it hurts my feelings, but it keeps me warm at night. So by that point, Garrett had already had some rough times in his personal life. He'd gotten married and the marriage ended in divorce after just two years. And if you'd like more info on that, then I'd like to lodge a complaint that damn near every book that has ever been written on this man is written for children.

And it turns out children's books rarely tackle the juicy details of a messy first marriage. We need to change that. I think someone needs to look into. And I know people will say, well, why don't you do it? And I say, I'm too busy Googling belt fasteners. Right. Black History. If you're an adult and you want to read the real adult story, good luck, Brenda. You know, I came across that with Robert Smalls too. Yeah. Interesting. What do you

that's about? I have thoughts. You want to share your thoughts? Okay, it kind of makes me think of the Rosa Park story that was watered down and shifted over time. Like she was presented to us as children as, just an old lady on the bus who was just tired that day. But the real story was she was like my age now. Maybe even younger. No. No, I think she was like 42. Okay.

I could be wrong. But she was a member of the NAACP. Right. She was an activist. She was an activist. This was something that she had done intentionally. It was not just a random moment when she felt a little tired. And I think it's interesting.

that, you know, there's a story that we, we tell to children, and it's kind of the oopsies, oh, and then act, and then this wonderful thing happened, and then civil rights. When the real work of that is much harder, messier, it's more organized, it takes a lot more. And if those stories aren't written, then we lose the blueprint for how to do that. Gotcha. What's your theory? Part of me is like it's like a simplified version of the story. Sure.

And it gets children interested in history. Sure. No, I'm not saying burn the children's books. I'm saying we need adult books too. Are you saying burn the children? Stop. What are you saying? Thank you, Norman.

Yeah. You just want the adult version. Sure. You want the sex scenes. I feel like, honestly, yeah. Garrett Morgan pushing his wife against the sewing. machine. They have a moment. You know, look out for the belt fastener. I don't know if there's a needle near that thing, probably. Spank me with the belt fastener. Oh, God, that sounds terrible,

actually. But maybe she's into it. No, what was I saying? No, I'm just like, you know, we learned about Thomas Edison in school. And I feel like if I wanted to go pick up a book about Thomas Edison, as an adult, I wouldn't have to get like a children's pop-up story, you know, although we do love a pop-up book. Part of the problem, too, is a lot of these stories haven't been thoroughly researched enough. And so sometimes these authors or historians will say, well, I don't have enough here

to write like a full history. So like a children's book is like the way to go because they don't have to be as long. Oh shit. You know what? I'm developing a new theory. Oh, based on what you just said. Okay.

Well, no, I am thinking like, you're right. It takes a lot of research and time to write like a full bio. on someone. Yeah. And when you look at our society, like, well, who has the time and who tends to have the money? There's no time.

It's like when I try to make that Kirby episode for gaming a story. And there is no time to talk about Kirby games. Well, no, I'm saying like, it's the people with some privilege who are usually the inventors. It's the people who have time to tinker. And for biographers, it's like, it's like who has the time to do these deep dives. And yeah, it probably does take less time. if you're going to do a children's book about something. Sure.

That's not me shitting on children's book authors. I'm just saying like maybe the time commitment is different. Yeah. And so you do what you can do. Part of me wonders about like infantilizing the accomplishments of like black Americans. Well, yeah, the Rosa Parks thing is a great example. Yeah. It's like, oopsies. Oh, good for you.

Yeah. You did good. I know that's gross, but my mind goes there. I like that you didn't apologize for your gross mind going to the point of spanking people, but now the apologies roll in. Interesting. Spanking is back. It's back in America, okay? Thanks to one man.

Me. So Garrett Morgan had a nasty divorce. Let's kind of hype this up. Went through a messy divorce. I do think at this time period, to get divorced after just two years, things had to be. be rough. It's a big deal. Anyway, a year after buying his house and moving his mom to Cleveland, Garrett Morgan got married again, this time to a white lady named Mary Hasick.

Ooh. Yeah. That's scandalous for the time. No, everyone was super happy for them. Oh, that's great. Yeah. She was an immigrant from Bavaria. And yeah, after they got married, her father excommunicated her from the Catholic Church. Oh. Which, holy cross. crap, I didn't know you had the power to do that. Listen, it's one thing to dittle the kids. But you marry a black man, you are done. That's where we draw the line. We are sick of it.

From that point forward, her siblings visited Mary in secret. Jeez. Yeah. But Garrett and Mary seemed to have a good marriage. They had three children, all strapping boys, and their skill sets really meshed well. Mary was an experienced seamstress. They worked together. Oh.

If you're a seamstress, hubby repair sewing machines, that's a match made in heaven. It sure is norm. And in 1909, Garrett Morgan opened a tailoring store, the Morgan Skirt Factory. Oh. He employed 32 people. Brilliant. Together, Garrett and Mary became more and more prosperous. Largely thanks to the fact that Garrett Morgan never stopped innovating.

In fact, one day, he was experimenting. he had this problem at the factory. They were using this woolen fabric, and after a while, the sewing machine needle would become so hot from constant use that it would burn the fabric. That's no good. Exactly.

There's got to be a better way. That's what he said to himself. Yeah. He wanted to be able to use that fabric and still keep production going at the same speed, so he came up with an idea. What if there was some kind of solution he could apply to the sewing needles

that would prevent them from burning the fabric? He experimented with different concoctions, and he found one that worked, but he noticed something else, something he hadn't intended. The areas of that woolen fabric that had been touched by that needle were straighter. The wool wasn't so woolly. He kept playing around with that chemical solution when one evening Mary called him to dinner and he wiped his hands on some of that wool cloth. And when he came back later, he noticed that that wiry cloth had become complete. straight. He was intrigued. If that solution straightened wool and fabric, could it maybe straighten hair? Ooh. He didn't want to use himself as a guinea pig, understandably. But luckily,

his neighbor had a dog with really curly hair. You know, anyone experiment on your dog? Uh-huh. It was an airedale. You know, those dogs with a really curly hair? No. Spell it. Oh, I hope I have it spelled correctly here. It's A-I-R-E-D-A-L-E. Oh, just kind of look like Scotty dogs. Yeah. Oh, they're so cute. So Garrett asked the neighbor, are you cool with animal testing? And it was early 1900, so of course he was. So Garrett put the solution on the dog's fur, and it straightened the dog's fur so well that the neighbor didn't recognize his own dog at first. That's so funny. So, It'd be funny if the neighbor had these like luscious, flowing curly hair.

He's like, well, you can't test it on me, but you can use my dog. So wait, did he just invent hair straightener? Hair spray? What is his product? Garrett knew that he really had something. He started testing the solution on his own hair, little by little. And it seemed to work well with no ill effects. So then one day he did it to all of his hair.

And without even intending to, he had invented hair straightening cream. Wow. Just like those dudes who thought they were making blood pressure medicine, but instead invented something way cooler. Viagra. That is the coolest medicine in the world. You know what it does?

What's it to? Makes your penis hard. I had no idea. Mm-hmm. And it's pretty cool. Okay. I've never taken it myself, but I've heard good things. Yeah, yeah.

You don't need this. You don't need any of these products. Hell no. You're just, you know, you're a looks max and alpha man right there. Yep. So in 1913, the GA Morgan refining company was born. And his hair product company became really successful. Over the years, the company expanded.

They didn't have just hair straightening cream. He invented a hot comb. He created hair dye. So it's interesting. At the beginning of this story, I mentioned that Garrett Morgan had to kind of hide his race when he sold the safety hood. But he obviously didn't have to do that with this hair care line. It was perfectly fine for him to be known as the inventor of a hairline for black people.

Right. So yeah, he was in his advertisements. His home address was listed in them, and he quickly became very well known and very well respected in Cleveland as a prominent black businessman. And it was thanks to that success, the success of the hair care company, that Garrett Morgan was able to spend more time in. inventing. So when the triangle shirtwaste fire killed so many people in 1911, he felt more than just

sadness. He felt a desire to make things better. He'd worked in or around those types of factories for years. So he created the safety hood. He saw it not just as a tool for firefighters, but something that would be helpful to chemists, engineers, really anyone who worked around dangerous chemicals or dust would benefit from that device. Woodworkers. Yes. Yeah. It's amazing what that national tragedy, the Triangle Shirtways Factory, how it impacted all these Americans. I think about Francis Perkins, witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaste Factory and fought for safer working conditions, right?

It really, it's one of those tragedies that captured people's attention. And thank God, one of those things where people didn't just say thoughts and prayers, they actually demeanor. they actually demanded real change. Yes. And of course, I do believe, yes, pray, yes, think about it. But also, let's do something. And that tragedy really made people do something. The government took action.

Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. What a concept. Thank you. His invention was successful. He demonstrated the device at the second international exposition of sanitation and Safety in New York City, and he received the first grand prize gold medal, which I think is

kind of a hat on a hat on a hat, but we tip all of them to him. They had a word count to hit. Yeah, clearly. He originally marketed it as the Garrett A. Morgan Safety Hood, but after talking to his friend, J.P. Morgan ever heard of him? J.P. Morgan was like, hey, if you're trying to sell more of these, just call it the Morgan safety hood. So he did.

Ah, yeah. The safety hood was selling well, but it hadn't like swept the nation. Well, it's a, it feels like a product that's not for everyday households. No, no, no. It's like for firefighters or people working with dangerous chemicals. I'm trying to picture the type of household where this would be an everyday product. Making dinner. Should I stop lighting fires in the middle of my home with this great heaping pile of turds?

Someone with bad gas. Mm-hmm. I heard that story about that one guy who died. Please tell it again. This is one of my favorite Norman stories. Set the scene. How old were you when you read this story online that you took to be absolutely true? Or like 10 or 11.

Uh-huh. Overweight man, bedridden, ate a lot of cabbage, sausage, and beans. Mm-hmm. A classic combination. Bed-ridden in an airtight room. Sure, sure. And he kept farting one night and he died. and then when the paramedics came to get him.

He died due to farts. He died from the farts. Right. And when the paramedics came, one paramedic almost died as well, trying to get him out of there. Multiple people were hospitalized. Yes. True story. No.

Future topic? If we could research like that urban legend and the effect it had, because folks, how old were you when you realized that was not a real thing? I don't need to be quite so afraid of my own farts. 37. Yeah. Folks. 25 years. Yeah.

25 years of fart terrors is what Norman had. Yep. But now I'm free as a bird. I'm just farting everywhere now. Now all he eats are sausages, cabbage, and beans. I have a good diet. A lot of fiber. So the safety hood was selling well.

It wasn't sweeping the nation. Right. And he was still able to distance himself from his invention when the time called for it. You know, he could be creative like that. But that all changed one night in 1916. At the time, Cleveland was the fifth largest city in the United States. Come on down to Cleveland Town, everyone. And stop me if this sounds grossly familiar.

But Cleveland's sewer system couldn't quite handle all that growth. Oh. See, people got their water from Lake Erie. And if they weren't careful, it might become Lake Poopie. So the city was in the process of creating Waterworks Tunnels so that they could access cleaner drinking water. Mm-hmm. But creating those tunnels was dangerous. Sure was.

They had to burrow under the lake. What? Yeah, I mean, it's nuts what they did. An underground tunnel you have to burrow under? Norman, do not mess with me. Okay, okay. In doing so, they faced a number. number of risks, one of them being the danger of hitting a bubble of natural gas. Not so fun fact,

three billion cubic feet of natural gas lay beneath Lake Erie. And a couple hours before midnight on July 24, 1916, approximately two dozen men were working about 200 feet below Lake Erie, four miles out when there'd been a deadly explosion. They'd hit a pocket of natural gas. The tunnel filled with smoke and poisonous gas. The explosion blocked their exit. The men were trapped in the rubble of that explosion. The air around them nearly impossible to breathe. Right away, people tried to rescue them. One group went down and didn't come back. Another group went down and didn't come back. A third group went down. This time it was just two men. They came back after a few minutes panicked and shocked. They said the air was impossible to breathe. The members of the first

two rescue parties were dead, or at least they appeared to be dead. People panicked. Time was running out. But one guy, a member of the Cleveland Police Force, remembered Garrett Morgan, the local entrepreneur who'd invented the safety hood. That police officer had attended one of Garrett Morgan's demonstrations, and he'd been impressed by it. Maybe Garrett Morgan could help. So, without any other ideas, they called Garrett Morgan. And within an hour, Garrett and his brother Frank were on the scene. I believe another neighbor came with them. They showed up in their pajamas, carrying about 20 of Garrett Morgan's safety hoods.

You know, this is kind of my hyperfixation right now, is people trapped in caves. Yeah. And so this is exactly what you're talking about, right? I mean, yeah, this sounds absolutely terrifying. Oh, it is. Future topic? Oh, boy. Sure.

Some of the men, those very important men, like the mayor, were gathered there at the scene. And, you know, Garrett Morgan shows up and he's like, okay, who's coming down with us? And they were all like, um, no thanks. It's dangerous. Very dangerous. Sure, sure. Well, and how do they know the people trapped are even still alive? They don't.

They don't. They're just trying to get to their bodies, huh? Right. I think they had reason to believe. I mean, they could go down and hear moaning and hear some people. Yeah. But yeah, it was very dangerous. But Garrett and Frank put on those safety hoods,

and they went down into that incredibly dangerous tunnel. On the first trip, Garrett took the lead. He stumbled over a man in the tunnel. He helped take the man up to the surface only to discover that the man had been dead. He went back down into the tunnel. This time he heard groans. He moved in that direction. He found a man trapped under some equipment. He was moaning. His forehead was still warm. Garrett Morgan brought that man up to the surface. He went down again. Each time it seemed more people were willing to help. It was clear that the safety hood worked. On the third trip, they found four men. They brought them to the surface. Three were dead. One lived. Garrett Morgan went to. down a fourth time. Man, this dude is a superhero. Yes, he is. In total, Garrett Morgan saved the lives of eight people that night. 20 men died. Garrett Morgan and his brother Frank were heroes.

And to top it off, Garrett Morgan had invented the device that had made his own heroism possible. Yeah. It was an incredible story. I mean, and just proof that it works really well. Well, yeah. Yeah. I mean, so many of those other rescuels. Cruz didn't come back and, you know, the third group, they were gasping for air. Yeah. The next day, the New York Times wrote about the story. So did the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. None of them mentioned Garrett Morgan.

Other men, white men, were mentioned for their heroic deeds. In fact, they were given awards. They were given cash prizes. What? But not Garrett Morgan. He did receive medals for his bravery, not just from a local. organization in Cleveland, but also from the International Association of Fire Engineers. But that's all he got. The other men, the white men, received medals and cash prizes.

Four of the white men who participated in the rescue received medals from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. Oh, that Carnegie. Well, now hold on, before you get too mad at Carnegie, the city of Cleveland refused to even nominate Garrett Morgan for the that medal. Oh. Yeah, you had to be recognized by people. People had to vouch for you. Yeah.

And no one wanted to vouch for the guy who had literally saved all these people, brought up all these bodies thanks to his own invention. Well, anyway, they went and got him. He was in his PJs. Exactly. He didn't get any credit. Again, he got some credit. But not enough.

Hell no. Yeah. The injustice. made Garrett Morgan really, really mad. Later, he wrote a letter to the mayor of Cleveland, Harry Davis. In it, he wrote, I am not a well-educated man. However, I have a Ph.D. from the School of Hard Knocks and Cruel Treatment.

Damn. Garrett Morgan wasn't asking for much. He was asking for credit where credit was due. And really, he deserved a lot of credit, not just for what I've mentioned already, but for what I have not mentioned. which is that when he brought that first survivor out of the tunnel, some of the doctors wanted to hook the man up to an old-timey ventilator.

But Garrett Morgan, who understood all of this better than those doctors did, told them, no, given the present condition of the man's lungs, he needed mouth to mouth. So Garrett performed that, and in doing so, he ingested some of the harmful gas that the man had ingested. He's putting his life on the line. Yeah. And that heroic act would have major health consequences for Garrett Morgan in the years to come.

This reminds me of some of the first responders on 9-11. Yeah. How, you know, that day it's all, oh, yay, we love you. Thank you for doing this. And then later, you know, they're having all these health problems. And it becomes this ridiculous battle with the government for them to be compensated, for their medical bills to be paid. I mean, it's ridiculous. It happens all the time.

Thank you so much for being there in a crisis, but we don't want to handle the consequences. No, I mean, they do the same thing with veterans, too. Yeah. Yeah. Of course, some newspapers wrote about Garrett Morgan's achievements, and as a result, quite a few fire departments placed orders for the safetyhood. I mean, in a way, this is a hell of an advertisement. Hell, yeah. You want to talk about using it in a real-world situation.

This is the most extreme way. But are you ready for something really stupid? Yes. Okay. At the same time, a lot of existing orders got canceled when people learned that the inventor of that safety good. Was black? Yeah. Jesus Christ. Again, they learned it worked.

They learned this man's a hero. They learned it saved people in this terrible disaster. Oh, but we, no, nope, we're going to have to cancel that order. I can't imagine being that racist. It's kind of impressive. Honestly, it's impressive. I can't fathom being that racist. Jesus Christ.

Overall, though, his invention was so good, so undeniably effective that it became the blueprint for the masks that United States soldiers used in the Great War. That's right. Future topic? Yeah. Oh, no. Why did I say that? Oh, you've agreed to it. It's too late. The next three years of the podcast will be all the Great War.

God and the headline will be. We still don't know why this started. Well, no, Franz Ferdinand the assassination, but, oh, God, I'm bored already. Bored already. Damn. Get me the safety belt fastener. Is that what it's called? Belt fastener.

You want the history of the belt fastener? Yes. And how it works. I feel like we'll get through that a lot faster than the history of the Great War. You know, in my Donkey Kong series, I asked for requests on, like, weird products that I can research. Yes. A few people want to hear about the history of the Furby. Okay.

Honestly, I would not mind that. I am horrified by the Furby. And yeah, I want to know, who do I blame for this terrible, creepy little thing? Ew. No. Go away. I still had that sound from the last episode. Oh, that's terrible.

So his invention became a huge success. It saved countless lives. But that experience, that experience of performing this heroic deed, only to be largely ignored by white media, got Garrett Morgan thinking. He'd already been involved with a local NAACP. He donated to HBCUs. He supported his community and his community supported him. But what more could he do to balance the scales?

Well, in 1920, he co-founded a black newspaper called The Cleveland Call. It later became the call and post. And fun fact, that newspaper is still in business. Oh. Which, how often can you say that about a newspaper these days? Not often. And its owner is Don King. Really?

Yes. The boxing promoter? The boxing promoter Don King. Wow. That's a fun fact, Kristen. So Garrett Morgan was doing his thing. He'd made a difference in the world, really didn't have anything else to prove. But then one day, in the early 20s, he was driving through Cleveland.

Fun fact, he was the first black dude in Cleveland to own a car. Oh. Uh-huh. Oh, well, this is a sad transition. he witnessed a really bad accident. Okay. I'm sorry. You know, I was reading that and I was like, why didn't I include that fun fact?

And then I included it and was like, oh, because now we're going to go into a very nasty traffic accident. Okay. Yeah. You got to trust past Kristen. You know, past Kristen is only right like 50% of the time. So it had happened between a horse-drawn carriage and a car. They'd collided at an intersection. That was so common when cars were first invented.

It really, really was. I was shocked by it. So accidents were becoming more and more common in those days. Because, again, people were just getting used to cars being on the roads. And, you know, it's not like anyone was an experienced driver back then. Yeah, and like the rules of the road weren't well established for. Or sometimes not established at all, you know. Yeah.

We hadn't had any devices that could. move that fast on roads. Yeah. Here's a really weird thing. Some city planners argued that these accidents were an inevitable and unstoppable sign of progress. Nothing could be done. Can you imagine?

People will die, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. Well, okay, I don't mean to sound ridiculous. Like, I do understand that, yes, we have all these cars on the road. There are going to be car accidents. But the idea of like, there's nothing we can do to make things more safe. That's fate. What a wild take. We still do that shit today.

Okay. We do. We have some rules. We're living in a society. I'm thinking about guns. Oh, well, you sure. Future topic? Oh, guns in general.

Just guns. All gun, the history of guns. So you've got these people saying, hey, we've got more cars on the road. There's going to be more accidents. Bing, bang, boom, sorry. Go cry to your mama. But Garrett Morgan didn't see it that way. He knew there had to be a better way.

That's right. Some way to make intersections more safe. Okay, worth noting, traffic signals did exist in the 1920s, but they had two modes. Stop and go. Which created obvious problems because you'd be speeding along and all of a sudden, with no warning whatsoever, another car would come barreling towards you.

you because they just got the go. You didn't realize you had a stop like halfway through the intersection. Garrett Morgan came up with a revolutionary idea. In 1923, he got a patent for a traffic signal that stopped all vehicles before it changed the traffic flow. It was a manually operated T-shaped traffic light that included an all-hold light. In other words, what I'm trying to tell you is this man invented the yellow light. Yeah, the warning, the warning light, basically. Yes.

It's about to change. Yeah. And this time, instead of trying to sell his idea the same way he'd sold some of his other ideas, he sold his patent directly to General Electric. Smart. Why do you say that's smart? Well, his bad experiences with trying to do it himself. Yeah, so that's what a lot of people say. And, you know, I'm going to give the amount he got here.

And, of course, the reaction is like, oh, God. that's not enough for that kind of invention. But you can see why he probably sold it for that amount. You can see why he did that because, again, this is another way to kind of evade discrimination. Now, you're getting discriminated against, I think, in the amount that General Electric pays you. Right. But this is a method. Well, and it's only Garrett Morgan can determine the value of his,

peace, you know. Yeah, I'm sorry. It took me way too many seconds to realize that you were saying peace, P-E-A-A-C-E. I was like, huh? But yeah, you're right. I didn't even think about that, the peace of mind of just like, I'm going to sell this. The other thing that I'm not even really getting at, because I'm like capitalist Barbie, because I just went to Bentonville, Arkansas, is, you know, he created these safety devices

because he genuinely cared about the general public. Of course, this was how he made his money, but also I think there could be an argument that, like, it wasn't all about, like, how do I get the maximum profits from this? It was how do we make, yeah, how do we make the road safer? Absolutely. I think all inventors have that in them of, like, it's not about the money, it's about I want to improve the world in some way. Right. What if one drop of blood allowed you to. Please stop.

Kristen Theranos. I've just got a great idea and a heart of gold. All I'm asking is $20 million from you. For me. You're not going to get it for me. Let me. Hold on. Let me try that again.

I'm asking for $20 million. This will change the world. We'll tell you what. Folks, I saw a twinkle in Norm's eye. He kind of wants to invest. I don't know what he's going to have to do to get $20 million. Here's the deal. Uh-huh.

I think my spanking tour is going to bring in a lot of revenue for an old tiny podcast. I think we're going to lose the revenue from all the legal battles we're going to have to fight. I'm being sued into oblivion. Now I'll make sure people sign waivers. Oh, okay. Yeah, you're on your own for the $20 million blood test business, which has been done before and failed miserably. Yeah. Frankly, I don't think she knew what she was doing.

Now me, I'm a communications major from Simmons University, a.k.a. Unstoppable. Didn't you say Simmons was the Harvard of Boston one time? A lot of people are saying that, okay? A lot of people say it. And so I have repeated it once or twice. Sure. You didn't come up with it, though. No, that's me being a B, Norm. Oh. That's me being a B because I noticed that literally anyone who attends like a liberal arts college that no one's heard of before. which like that applies to like all liberal arts colleges, all small ones, like no one's heard of it.

And so then you try to prop yourself up in front of people by being like, oh, people say it's the Harvard of Northwest Arkansas. People say it's the heart. And it's like, no, no, there's one Harvard. Yeah. And you sound ridiculous. I went to the Harvard of Bootyville. What? It's just, I'm just thinking to like a small community college in Bootyville.

Missouri. A place that doesn't exist, but absolutely should. Yeah. So, wow, weird transition here. Garrett Morgan sold the invention for 40K to General Electric. Just for inflation? About $786,000. Okay, so it's a good purse right there.

Yeah, it's one of those things. Who would be mad about getting this kind of money? But then you think about, okay, he invented the traffic light. Well, an improved version of this. traffic light. Well, no, I mean, they took this and then they, General Electric then turned it into the traffic light. The traffic light we know of today. Yes. So he invented the traffic light. That's big deal. Yeah. But again, only Garrett Morgan can determine the value of his peace of mind. There we go. Pretty soon, Garrett Morgan found a pretty cool way to spend that money. See, he'd been

rejected by a few country clubs in his day. So with the money he earned from inventing the traffic light, He bought 250 acres in Wakeman, Ohio. He turned that land into the Wakeman Country Club, an all-black country club. Blacks only. It had a party room. I did wonder, was his wife allowed to attend? I feel like probably. Just get an exception.

It had a party room, a dance hall, a restaurant, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, the works. The club shut down in the early 40s, and none of the original buildings remain, but there is a plaque. Yeah, plaque. That's good. I just think this is so cool. That's interesting, yeah. Like, okay, you don't want me to be a part of this club? I'm going to create my own club. Yeah, of course, I'm sure people got upset about that.

Yeah, but I mean, it just sounds like people also had a really good time at this place. And there were plans for people to get cabins there. I mean, it just sounds like it was a really joyful, wonderful thing he did. Sure. In later years, Garrett Morgan developed glaucoma. He lost most of his eyesight, I think, for the last 15 years of his life, he really couldn't see well at all. That's too bad, especially when you're a tinkerer. I bet that makes it much harder.

Yeah, but it's interesting you say that. Cool. So he suffered some other health problems, which I think we can easily attribute to some of the toxins he inhaled at the Cleveland Tunnel disaster. Yeah. But despite all those health problems, he kept inventing. His last invention was yet another safety device. He knew that a lot of fires started when people fell asleep with a lit cigarette. So he invented the self-extinguishing cigarette.

Huh. How did it work? That's a rude question. The self-extinguishing cigarette. I just wonder if her little sprinkler popped out at the end and sprit some water on there. Oh, she's currently researching it. Oh, shut up. You know, we could cut this part where I'm having to Google.

She's currently, this is live research. Okay. The cigarette was designed to prevent fires by employing a small plastic pellet filled with water placed just before the filter. So when the heat hit that pellet, the water came out and extinguish it. I would assume so, yeah. Okay. There you go. And it's funny because I was like, gosh, that burning plastic, that's not good for you.

But then I was like, well, you're smoking a cigarette. I don't know. It gives a shit. I think there's probably asbestos in that cigarette, too. Might as well. Mm-hmm. Garrett Morgan died in 1963 at the age of 86. In 2005, he was inducted posthumously into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

It would be impossible to total the number of lives that he either saved or improved, thanks to his inventions. Firefighters, soldiers, hell, anyone who drives a car or wants to cross the street. owes a big thank you to the prolific inventor, who we can now proudly call Garrett Morgan. Very good. I didn't know anything about this man. I didn't either. I came across it. You know, I love a fun fact. Yeah. And I think I came across like, you know,

Black Man invented the traffic light. And I was like, huh. You know, the traffic light is just, it's one of those things. You see it all. all the time you never really think about it. It just becomes part of a landscape. And so then, you know, to dive deeper into what his inventing life was like. And I was truly fascinated by, you know, how people had to obscure who they were when their identity might threaten the sales of their inventions. Like that just, again, another thing that had never occurred to me. Yeah. Well, very good Kristen. Thank you.

And now it is time for everyone's favorite new segment on the internet. Taking the world by storm. Everyone's talking about it. It's called The Slop. You know, I gotta say, you introduce this segment kind of like this, and it doesn't seem like it's going to be very exciting. That's true. How about this?

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen. It's time for the slop. There we go. Folks, we just wrapped up an exciting segment of the slop. Kristen, what do we talk about? Do you not remember what we just talked about? Well, I'll tell you, folks. Norm did a very creative retelling of one time when he got stuck behind an Amish man in a horse-drawn carriage.

Norm had a lot of weird excuses for why he behaved the way he behaved that day. It's not a weird excuse. It's a perfectly valid excuse. Convenient that it's come out after all these years. Yes, we talked about road rage and the times when Norman has suffered from it. But also we talked about Bentonville, Arkansas. We did. Here's a freebie, though.

Remember when we were on our way home from Minnesota and it hit me like a ton of bricks, I had to use the bathroom. And I screeched off to an exit and a Burger King and I jumped out of the car while it was moving. And I ripped my pants. And you didn't explain anything to Jay and I. Jay and I were in the car with you. Yep. We're driving along, having a nice conversation, whatever, road trip.

All of a sudden you pull off the highway. No, no, like, oh, hey, I'm going to go to the bathroom or hey. No, I warned you as I was taking the exit. Norman, you were like speed. I got to make a bathroom break. Okay. Yeah. It happened so fast.

It was lightning fast. You're right. And Jay and I were left in a cloud of your torn pants with nothing but questions. I mean, I bolted into that burger game, for sure. Well, Kristen, thank you for that very enlightening episode. It's very interesting. You're welcome. And who knows what we'll talk about next week.

We'll leave it a mystery. Oh, my goodness. So let's wrap this up. Kristen, you know what they say about history hosts? We always cite our sources. That's right. for this episode, I got my information from the article, Overcoming Discrimination by Consumers during the Age of Segregation, the example of Garrett Morgan by Lisa D. Cook for Business

History Review. The article, Guardian of the Public Safety, Garrett A. Morgan and the Lake Erie Cribb Disaster by William M. King for the Journal of Negro History, as well as reporting from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Smithsonian.com, and Scientific American. Plus more, check the show notes for a full list of our sources. That's all for this episode. Thank you for listening to an old-timey podcast. Please give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts. And while you're at it, subscribe. Support us on Patreon at patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. And if you don't, Norman will spank you. Join the Reddit community, R-slash old-timey podcast.

Follow us on Facebook and YouTube and Instagram at Old-Timey Podcast. You can also follow us individually on Instagram. I'm at Kristen Pitts-Karuso, and he's at Gaming Historian. And until next time, Tudeloo, Tata, and Cheerio. Bye. Bye. See ya. See ya.