Garrett Morgan sells his safety hood disguised as "Big Chief Mason," then gets left out of the tunnel rescue story (Cleveland, OH, 1912–1923)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1912
SUMMARYGarrett Morgan sells his safety hood disguised as "Big Chief Mason," then gets left out of the tunnel rescue story (Cleveland, OH, 1912–1923) [Connections: Tech & skilled labor, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDBiography.com says Morgan filed for the safety hood in 1912 and was granted the patent in 1914. In road shows he would "disguise himself as a Native American named Big Chief Mason," and he hired white performers to stage exhibitions in southern cities. His granddaughter said sales were strong until "it was discovered that the patent holder was Black, and then sales dried up." At the waterworks tunnel explosion under Lake Erie (24–25 July 1916), Morgan and his brother Frank went in wearing the hoods and pulled out survivors. Scientific American says the next day's newspapers did not mention him, while others got bonuses and medals. Morgan wrote to Mayor Harry Davis: "I have a Ph.D. from the school of hard knocks and cruel treatment." The Carnegie Hero Fund passed him over in 1917 but later concluded that "he saved more people than any of the rescuers that entered the tunnel earlier." He patented a three-position traffic signal in 1923 and sold it to General Electric for $40,000. STATUS: free (own business, inventor)
PATTERNThe inventor had to put on a Native American persona, or hire a white face, to sell his own invention, and the newspapers credited others for his rescue
LENS (WW9)To sell his own tech he had to dress as the Native man the paper had renamed him out of being
OPENPatent numbers; the original 1916 newspaper coverage; the Carnegie file