The day I met your grandpa, i was clad in a floral yellow dress. I've always known yellow was made for me as all the young men were craning their necks just to see the brown girl passing by. It could have been my hair too as I had just purchased one of those straightening iron combs that Garrett Morgan had made in 1910. Born in Paris, Kentucky in 1877, the man was a moving genius!!! He invented something nearly every time he breathed. For instance, he made the hair refining cream after discovering that the chemical he developed for straightening woolen fibers on the sewing machine could be used for straightening hair too. This was way before our kinky hair was deemed beautiful. Speaking of breathing, I didn't inform you that the man made a breathing device. This safety hood and smoke protector was made in 1912 and patented in 1914. It's more than maddening though that he had to hire a white actor to pose as the inventor since African American inventions were not respected in those days. On July 26th 1916, Morgan made the new after using this has mask was to rescue workers after the Cleveland water works disaster in 1916. He won a gold medal from the International exposition of sanitation and safety and another medal from the International Association of fire chiefs.. This device was later refined for use in world war1 by U.S soldiers. With all the innovations he made, he started the Cleveland call newspaper in 1920 and later became prosperous enough that he became the first black man to own an automobile in Cleveland. One can not speak about this man’s penchant for innovation without mentioning his three signal traffic light. He invented this after witnessing a collision between a horse driven carriage and an automobile. He was the first to apply for and be granted a patent for a traffic signal. Show me a greater man. I remind you of Yvette Clarke’s remark, “We must never forget that Black History is American History. The achievements of African Americans have contributed to our nation's greatness." And tomorrow I'll tell you about Maggie Walker, another beautiful mind who when black women were expected to play with pots and pans in the kitchen, did quite the contrary!