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Overcoming Discrimination by Consumers during the Age of Segregation: The Example of Garrett Morgan

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  • Cook, Lisa D.

Abstract

From professional baseball to legal services, discrimination against sellers became widespread in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This article examines the means by which African American inventor-entrepreneurs overcame discrimination against them by consumers. It makes use of data from the advertising records of Garrett Morgan, who invented the modern gas mask and the traffic light. Both the deliberate use of measures, such as disguises and surrogates, and serendipity (the result of the racial neutrality of patents) were critical in facilitating sellers' anonymity and in promoting desirable economic outcomes.

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  • Cook, Lisa D., 2012. "Overcoming Discrimination by Consumers during the Age of Segregation: The Example of Garrett Morgan," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(2), pages 211-234, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:buhirw:v:86:y:2012:i:02:p:211-234_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Bento, Pedro & Hwang, Sunju, 2023. "Barriers to black entrepreneurship: Implications for welfare and aggregate output over time," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 16-34.
    2. Lisa D. Cook & Janet Gerson & Jennifer Kuan, 2021. "Closing the Innovation Gap in Pink and Black," NBER Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, volume 1, pages 43-66, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Lisa Cook, 2014. "Violence and economic activity: evidence from African American patents, 1870–1940," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 221-257, June.
    4. Jones, Maggie E.C. & Logan, Trevon D. & Rosé, David & Cook, Lisa D., 2024. "Black-Friendly businesses in cities during the Civil Rights Era," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).

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