George Washington Carver ~ Botanist & Inventor ~ Postcard

George Washington Carver (1860s - 1943) was an American botanist and inventor. The exact day and year of his birth are unknown; he was born into slavery in Missouri, either in 1861, or 1864. Carver's reputation is largely based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life. The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes using peanuts. He was also a leader in promoting environmentalism. He received numerous honours for his work, including the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP. ***** CC-PD-Mark (PD-US-Gov) ***** Re: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GW_Carver_by_Alston.jpg ***** Artist: Charles Henry Alston ~ (1907 -1977) was an African-American painter, sculptor, illustrator, muralist and teacher who lived and worked in the New York City neighbourhood of Harlem. During the 1930s and early 1940s. Alston created illustrations for magazines such as Fortune, Mademoiselle, The New Yorker, Melody Maker and others. He also designed album covers for artists such as Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins. Alston became staff artist at the Office of War Information and Public Relations in 1940, creating drawings of Noteable African Americans. These images were used in over 200 black newspapers across the country by the government to foster goodwill with the black citizenry. Alston was the first African-American supervisor for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. *****