Hello friends! I'm Teddy the traffic light. That's right I am a traffic light, with RED, YELLOW, and GREEN lights. You can see me in every corner of the streets, roads and highways. 

Can you tell me the meaning of my traffic light colors? Wait, it's too loud out here, I can't hear you. That is correct! RED means STOP. YELLOW means SLOWDOWN and GREEN means GO.

What if there's no traffic lights in the road? What do you think might happen if there were no traffic lights to tell the drivers when to go, when to slow down and when to stop?

Well..let me tell you about this guy name Garrett Morgan. He is an inventor. An inventor is a person who creates new things! That's exactly what Garrett Morgan did, he created or invented something.

Garrett Morgan invented the yellow traffic light, I used to only have a red light and a green light, but he added the yellow light. Mr. Morgan was born 144 years ago. Yes, that's very long time ago! Way before your grandparents.

Garrett Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky on March 4, 1877. He was the 7th of 11 children. His father, Sydney Morgan was an African descent and his mother Elizabeth Reed, was of Indian and African descent and a daughter of a Baptist Minister. 

Garrett's family were poor. He spent most of his time working on his parent's farm along with his siblings. He only attained a 6th grade education because they couldn't afford it. Many African Americans his age had to quit school and find a job.

Garrett

When young Garrett was growing up, people were unkind to him and treated him unfairly because he had dark skin. My friends, it's never okay to be unkind to others just because of their skin color. We should respect other people the way we want to be respected, regardless of their skin color.

Due to hardships he experienced growing up, at age 14, Garrett left home and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. He arrived in Cincinnati with a few cents in his pocket. He worked several odd jobs to support himself.

But yet again, people were unkind to him and treated him unfairly because of his darker skin. So Garret packed his things and decided to move to Cleveland, Ohio. He arrived in the area on June 1885.

He eventually landed a job sweeping floors at Roots and McBride, a sewing machine factory and was earning $5 a week. Education was important for him so he hired a tutor so he can learn, despite of having to work for a living.

Over the years, Garrett proved to be a hard worker, he taught himself to sew and repair sewing machines. In 1907, the Prince-Wolf Company hired him to be their first black machinist.

Garrett has been saving his money for years, with a goal of being his own boss. This was the time that he realized to use his savings and rented a building on West Sixth Street and opened his own sewing machine repair shop.

During this time, while building his business, he also worked hard on another goal. He's been pursuing this lady named Mary Hasek. Although Mary's family refused to accept Garrett because of his skin color, the couple married in 1908.

Just Married