The Breakfast Club - IDKMYDE: Traffic Lights Started With a Disaster

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

A deadly 1912 accident led Garrett Morgan to invent the modern traffic light, quietlysaving millions of lives while history largely forgot his name.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. The Volkswagen Beetle started out as Hitler's dream car. It wound up as a beloved hippie icon and the best-selling car of all time. How did that happen? I'm Jacob Goldstein. And I'm Robert Smith. On business history, we tell the surprising stories behind the inventions and entrepreneurs that shaped our economy.

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on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Not a team who ain't going to the playoffs. The Chief. It's time to rebuild. Listen to Broken Play with Nav Green from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or whatever you get your podcast.

Traffic lights started with a disaster. Welcome back, No, at All, to another episode of the most anticipated podcast on the Black Effect Podcast Network, especially in February. Entitled, I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. I'm your host, BDOT, WSSU, Mr. Alumni, 2025.

And we'll kick off this episode with three of the most useless facts you'll never need, not a day in life. Your first useless fact. The man who invented the modern traffic lights once had to hire a white actor to pretend to be him, but nobody would buy from a black inventor. Your second useless fact, that same man walked into a tunnel filled with poisonous gas, 120 feet under Lake Erie, just to rescue dying workers while the city of Cleveland watched. And your third, useless fact, four white men received Carnegie Hero medals for the aforementioned rescue.

But he was denied. Do you know why? Because I didn't. All right, first, let's talk about traffic lights. because when we think of them, we think them as boring, neutral, always been their infrastructure. But traffic lights didn't start with order. They started with chaos. And the man who fixed it, Brough had to pretend he didn't even exist just to sell his own invention.

Let me tell you about Garrett Morgan. In 1914, Garrett Morgan invented something called the Safety Hood. Now, that was a breathing device that let you survive in smoke and toxic gas. The very first breathing mask pretty much. Problem was, nobody would buy from him because he were black. So Gary did something wild. He hired a white man to act like he was the inventor. And then Morgan disguised himself.

Some accounts say as Big Chief Mason from a Canadian Indian tribe. He filled a tent with noxious smoke, strapped on his device, and walked inside. He stayed in there for nearly 30 minutes. When he walked out alive, the crowd was stunned. Sales took off and then came July 24th, 1916. The Cleveland Waterworks Tunnel disaster. Dun-duncturn. Construction workers was digging a tunnel 120 feet under Lake Erie,

four miles from the shore, and just before midnight, they hit a pocket of natural gas. The explosion killed 11 men instantly. They sent two rescue parties down. 10 of the 18 rescuers died from the gas. Nobody else would go down. At 4 a.m., the Cleveland police called Garrett Morgan. And they said, bring your hoods, all of them.

I know Garrett Morgan probably thought, don't y'all white men in Cleveland got your own hoods? But that's a whole other conversation. But Morgan grabbed his brother Frank, loaded 20 safety hoods in the car, and drove to the scene immediately. Then he did what nobody else would do. He strapped on his own invention,

and walked into the gas field tunnel. Him and his brother pulled out survivors. They recovered bodies. Garrett Morgan saved more people than any other rescuer that night. Now let me tell you where it gets ugly. For four white men received Carnegie Hero medals. Derek Morgan was denied. Why?

Because the Carnegie Hero Fund said that Morgan had the aid of his safety hood, meaning he wasn't at the same extraordinary risk as the others. His own invention was used. against him. But wait, it gets worse. Once the word spread that the safety hoods inventor was black, themselves dried up like salt on a slug. But Garrett Morgan didn't stop. In 1923, he saw one of the worst car accidents ever, and he patented something else, a three-positioned traffic signal. See, before Gary Morgan, traffic signals only had two positions, stop and go. But Morgan added the third, the all stop. That pause were nobody.

moves, that yellow light at Garrett Morgan. That moment became the foundation of modern traffic safety, and he sold that patent to General Electric for $40,000. But here's the plot twist. It took until 1991, 28 years after Garrett Morgan had died for Cleveland the name of water treatment plant after him. It took until 2016, 100 years after the disaster for the descendants of Morgan and the tunnel victims to meet for the first time. His daughter, Sandra Hill, back tears at the ceremony. Traffic lights didn't start with convenience. They started with a man who walked into death to save strangers, then got erased for doing it. And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. The Volkswagen Beatles started out as Hitler's dream car. It wound up as a beloved hippie icon

and the best-selling car of all time. How did that happen? I'm Jacob Goldstein. And I'm Robert Smith. On business history, we tell the surprising stories behind the inventions and entrepreneurs that shaped our economy. And the story of The Beatle is truly surprising. It has so much in it. He says, you should be able to mount machine guns on it. Sure. Not for the family vacation, but, you know, for other things.

You never know. Other plans. Listen to business history on America's number one podcast network, IHeart. Follow business history and start listening on the free IHeart radio app today. When segregation was a law, one mysterious black club owner, Charlie Fitzgerald, had his own rules. Segregation and the day is, integration that night. It was like stepping on another world.

Was he a businessman? A criminal. A hero. Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him. Charlie's Place from Atlas Obscura and visit Myrtle Beach. Listen to Charlie's Place on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This show contains information subject to, but not limited to personal takes, rumors, not so accurate stats, and plenty more.

What's up, man? This is your boy, now green from the broken. Play podcast. Look, it's the end of the season, the playoffs are here. Guess what? It ain't the end of your season. You can always tune in with Broken Play Podcasts with Nav Green on the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Guess what you get your podcast network. Not a team who ain't going to the playoffs. It's time to rebuild. Listen to Broken Play with Nav Green from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or whatever you get your podcast. When segregation was a law, one mysterious black club owner, Charlie Fitzgerald, had his own rules. and a day integration at night. It was like stepping

on another world. Was he a businessman? A criminal. A hero. Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him. Charlie's Place from Atlas Obscura

and visit Myrtle Beach. Listen to Charlie's Place on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.