It was around 3 AM on July 25, 1916, when African-American inventor, Garrett Augustus Morgan, grabbed attention when he used one of his inventions, the gas mask, to rescue City of Cleveland workers trapped during an explosion in an underground tunnel located 250 feet beneath Lake Erie.
On the night of the explosion, a rescue party was organized to reach out to the trapped workers, but they were not successful as some of the would-be rescuers would even pass out due to gas fumes.
After these unsuccessful rescue attempts, authorities contacted Morgan in the middle of the night – six hours after the incident – and asked him to bring along his gas mask to rescue the workers. Morgan and a team of volunteers, including his brother, arrived at the scene wearing their gas masks and soon they were able to rescue more than 20 people, including bodies of those who had died in the explosion.
Due to his courageous efforts that saved the lives of many people, Morgan received many additional requests from fire departments around the country which expressed interest in purchasing the masks that were invented two years prior.
Morgan invented the device called the Morgan Safety Hood and Smoke Protector in 1914, an invention that was later dubbed the gas mask. Despite the many requests he had after the tunnel explosion, Morgan’s role in the accident was later downplayed by authorities.
A White man who played a minor role in the rescue effort was given the prestigious “Hero” award instead of Morgan. When Morgan protested, he was told that he had not risked as much as the white man had because he had safety equipment.