The Breakfast Club IDKMYDE: Traffic Lights Started With a Disaster
Feb 3, 2026
A forgotten inventor's life and inventions are spotlighted, from a dramatic safety hood demonstration to daring tunnel rescues in gas-filled darkness. The story traces racial barriers to recognition and a denied award. It also covers the origin of the three-position traffic light and a later century-old reconciliation between families.
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Hired A Stand-In To Sell His Invention
- Garrett Morgan initially struggled to sell the safety hood because buyers refused to purchase from a Black inventor.
- He hired a white man to pose as the inventor while Morgan demonstrated the device in disguise to boost sales.
Daring Demonstration Proved The Hood
- Garrett Morgan demonstrated his breathing hood by entering a smoky tent and surviving nearly 30 minutes inside to prove it worked.
- That stunt and later rescuing workers in the Lake Erie tunnel made his device famous and saved lives.
Rescue Under Lake Erie Gas
- Garrett Morgan and his brother Frank used the safety hoods to enter a gas-filled tunnel and rescue survivors.
- They pulled out survivors and recovered bodies when others refused to go down.