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Why did Garrett Morgan hire actors to demonstrate his safety hood invention?
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Garrett Morgan
American inventor Garrett Morgan, 1931.
Garrett Morgan hired white actors to sell his safety hood invention because racism hindered its sales to the public. His invention, patented in 1914, was a breathing device designed to protect users from smoke and harmful gases, inspired by the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire. Despite its effectiveness, demonstrated when Morgan and others used it to rescue eight men from a tunnel explosion, racial prejudice limited its marketability.12