(upbeat music) - Slow Jazz Music - Hi, everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We're at the 2023 New Jersey Education Association Convention here in Atlantic City.

One of the really talented filmmakers that we have here is Philip Musey, who is a writer, director, producer of a film called "The Inventor."

Who's the inventor?

- The inventor is Garrett Augustus Morgan.

He was a very sort of famous black entrepreneur who lived at the early, sort of early 1900's.

He invented the traffic light, the three signal traffic light.

- The traffic light, - Yep, yep.

The the one that, you know, everyone uses when they walk.

- And why don't we know him?

- He's under unpublicized.

He's under publicized.

So he unfortunately had to hire a series of, you know, white actors and white attorneys and patent lawyers to stand in for him in order to gain the credibility that he needed to, you know, have his inventions take root.

So a lot of people dunno about him, but we're hoping that we can, you know, publicize his life a little bit more through this film.

- And Philip, this is part of, we're here at the New Jersey Education Association Convention as I said.

There's a film festival going on, and you could have films about all kinds of things, but there's a theme in these films, and that's why Philip is here.

This is not just about racial equity, it's about honoring, recognizing people who have been ignored for way too long, whose contributions for all of us to all of us are significant like Garrett Morgan, what got you involved?

PS.

Morgan used to call himself, and if I'm wrong, you'll tell me, "The Black Edison."

- [Philip] That's right.

- He called himself that.

- He called himself that, yeah.

He was a really self-confident guy.

So because he was actually born to formerly enslaved parents, and he had a very humble beginning.

So, you know, and ended up moving to Cincinnati when he was around 14 years old, worked a series of odd jobs and eventually opened up his own tailor shop.

He started, he started many businesses in the Cleveland area.

He actually ran for city council.

So he was a very, very involved civic figure.

And the way that I got involved in the project actually was through my producing partner, Cabral who - - Who's actually here with you today.

- He was here with us.

Yeah, he did a project on Garrett in the second grade, if you can believe it.

- No.

- In the second grade.

- So he finds out about Garrett Morgan.

He tells you, you go, who's this guy?

- That's right.

- Let's do a film called The Inventor.

- That's right.

That's right.

And I should say that Garrett Morgan is actually very, very well known in the Cleveland area.

And there are a lot of teachers, actually, you know, teachers at this conference who include Garrett in their curriculum.

So there are other second grade students, elementary school students who are learning about Garrett's impact.

And one of the things that we're hoping to do is contribute to that sort of the renaissance of people knowing about his legacy.

- Yeah, the other thing that I read in preparation for this interview with you, Philip, is the safety mask.

Put the safety mask thing and Garrett Morgan in context, I'm thinking, what do you mean the safety mask?

- Yep, yep.

Sp he started a company called the National Safety Device Company.

- What year?

- He patented the safety hood in 1914.

- Right.

And so this was the precursor to the modern gas mask, right?

So he had this idea that in order to enable firefighters and rescue workers to breathe when they were in noxious environments, you could breathe, you know, put on this hood that essentially drew air, clean air from the bottom of you know, closer to the ground.

And you know, he was going around to different fire departments trying to pitch this, this lifesaving device.

He actually tested it himself.

- [Steve] How?

- He would go into these tents and he would light these chemical fires, and he would sit in these tents for 30, 40 minutes and he would come out and prove that he was, you know, unharmed.

- He did it himself?

- He did it himself.

He did it himself, yeah.

- Was he getting blown off by a lot of these fire departments and others who just, even if they thought it was an important safety device, that they weren't buying into him in 1914 because of obvious reasons, race?

- Yep.

Yep.

So this was one of the reasons that he had to hire white actors.

- What do you mean white actors?

For what?

- To convince people that he, so actually what his tactic was, what he would have these actors stand in for him and portray Garrett the inventor, because if he, you know, showed up to a fire department and said, hi, I'm Garrett Morgan, I've invented these hoods.

He was essentially blown off.

So he hired, hired people to pose as the real inventor.

And once he started doing that, sales actually took off.

- This film, "The Inventor," we're talking to Philip Musey, we'll have his website up, his information, so you can find out more about the inventor, a part of the film festival here at the NJEA Convention.

We've been here for many, many years with my colleague Jacqui Tricarico.

The whole idea of a film festival, the whole idea of film as a way of telling stories that are so important that we need to understand that help us understand not just then and the Garrett Morgans of then, but who we are now and where we are now.

Am I making too much of that?

- Yes, yes.

Yeah, I think I'm excited to tell this story because of how relevant it is now.

We're living in an environment where, you know, less than 1% of all venture capital funding that's essentially distributed, goes to black founders.

- 1%.

- Less than 1%.

- Moving into 2024, 1%.

- Yes, less than 1%.

- Not 1924, 2024.

- 2024, in 2024, less than 1% of all venture capital funding goes to black founders.

And so when you look at Garrett Morgan, he was, you know, one and a long legacy of black entrepreneurs, you know, African American inventors and business folks who in this country have built businesses who have built, you know, products and services that have impacted people's lives.

And you know, the more I learn about Garrett, the more inspired I am to sort of do the work of telling additional stories about modern black entrepreneurs and drawing attention to the amazing work that they're doing.

- Yeah.

but for you, in the minute we have left, I'm curious, you're a writer, director, producer, but you're an entrepreneur.

- That's right.

- And listen, we're in the media business.

Half the time we're not doing the thing we really love, which is interviewing people.

We're raising money.

You may get that connection with public broadcasting.

You're an entrepreneur, you're raising money.

- That's right.

- He did the work.

Garrett Morgan did the work.

So many others did the work that I'm not gonna say make it easy or easier for you, but paved the way.

- Yeah, well, it's true that he paved the way for you know, entrepreneurs like me to have sort of the inspiration and a glide path or an easier path, right, to get into conventions like this.

To have our work seen, to have our stories heard.

And one of the things that, you know, I'm really excited to do as an entrepreneur is to create opportunities for other artists to produce work.

- Pay it forward?

- I live in New York City, and I love executive producing, you know, some of my friends' short films and feature films.

And I just love supporting the arts and supporting entrepreneurs and filmmakers.

And that's sort of what gives me, what gets me up in the morning.

- You know, beyond your art, it's paying it forward.

But also, I wanna make it clear that Spike Lee is here.

Spike Lee is here.

He's doing a keynote, he's doing a conversation with Sean Spiller, the president of the NJA.

And that's gotta be exciting for you as well.

- Oh yeah.

- He's pretty good at that, huh?

He's a pretty good filmmaker, no?

- We've all heard of Spike Lee, we've all heard of Spike Lee.

Yeah, he is an inspiration to all of us.

- Well, we're gonna hear more about Philip Musey and I wanna thank you for joining us part of our Arts Connection series on One-on-One part of this very important convention at the NJA.

- Wish you all the best.

Thank you.

- Thank you very much, Steve.

Thanks for having me.

- You got it.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by The New Jersey Education Association.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

Atlantic Health System.

Rowan University.

Citizens Philanthropic Foundation.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

PSEG Foundation.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And by NJM Insurance Group.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by ROI-NJ.

- (Narrator) New Jersey is home to the best public schools in the nation, and that didn't happen by accident.

It's the result of parents, educators and communities working together year after year to give our students a world class education.

No matter the challenge, because parents and educators know that with a shared commitment to our public schools, our children can learn, grow and thrive.

And together, we can keep New Jersey's public schools the best in the nation.