Ellington

The Cream-O-Wheat Foodbank Foundation's "Bigg Hott Pot in the Back for the World" presents a Qweemy, Qweemy Black History Moment by the Qweem-O-Wheat Man.

July 24, 1916. The Cleveland, Ohio, Water Works crew—mostly Caucasian mens—started digging a tunnel under Lake Erie. I, the Qweem-O-Wheat Man, was serving hot, qweemy bowls of Qweem-O-Wheat. Each member of the crew devoured three bowls of qweemy, dee-wishous Qweem-O-Wheat and continued their work. Well, all that diggin' the crew did filled the tunnel with dust and toxic gasses. They were trapped underground and feared lost because no one knew how to rescue them from the poisonous smoke. One Caucasian worker yelled out, "We gotta problem, boy!" And I replied, "What you mean 'WE, 'man!" I got mad because I was called "Boy."

When I calmed down, I felt sorry for the choking' crew and took my time to get my good friend Garrett Morgan. He invented this "safety hood" device that allows a person to breathe safely in an environment of suffocatin' gasses and smoke. (Today, folk would call it a "gas mask.") Anyway, Garrett Morgan and his brother put on their "safety hoods," entered the smoky tunnel and saved most of the crew. For their heroism, Mr. Morgan and his brother were served three hot, qweemy, dee-wishous bowls of Qweem-O-Wheat. And the rest is His-Story.

The Qweem-O-Wheat Man wants everyone to remember a black man named Garrett Morgan: a "Boy from the Hood" who invented a "safety hood" to save the whole wide world from choking.

Ken Stiggers is a television producer in Jackson.