Includes bibliographical references (title page verso).

Shares the inspirational story of African-American inventor Garrett Morgan, whose incredible safety hood became a forerunner to the gas masks that saved thousands of soldiers during World War I.

In 1911, 146 workers died in the shocking Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. Morgan decided to invent a safety hood for firefighters-- but people weren't interested in buying his safety hood when they discovered its inventor was black. When an explosion trapped workers in a tunnel under Lake Erie in 1916, his hoods were rushed to the scene and used to rescue as many men as possible. Developed further, Garrett's invention came to save thousands of soldiers from chlorine gas in the trenches of World War I.

Issued also in an electronic format.