Who's on the KNEA poster?
Beginning with 1 on the left side of the photo
1 - Osa Johnson (1894-1953) and Martin Johnson (1884-1937)
Chanute native Osa Johnson and her husband, Martin, wrote books and produced movies during a life of adventure in Africa. From 1918's Among the Cannibals of the South Pacific to 1932's Congorilla, the Johnsons created films for armchair adventurers. After Martin's death in a plane crash in 1937, Osa continued on the lecture circuit and returned to the jungle.
2 - Emmett Kelley (1898-1979)
Emmett Kelley of Sedan, Kansas, was one of the world's most recognizable circus clowns. His work has inspired future generations of entertainers.
3 - George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
One of the world's most important scientists, Carver, the son of slaves, lived in Fort Scott, Paola, Olathe, and Spring Hill, Kansas, before moving to Minneapolis, Kansas, where he attended high school. Carver later homesteaded in western Ness County near the town of Beeler. He later went on to teach at Iowa State University and then at the
Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Most school children recall that George Washington Carver found nearly 300
uses for the peanut.
4 - Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
Langston Hughes spent his childhood in Topeka and Lawrence, Kansas, where he was a regular visitor to the Carnegie Library. During the 1920s and 30s Hughes was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance. His poetry is familiar to all students of literature. He traveled extensively and even worked as a journalist reporting on the Spanish Civil War.
5 - Vivian Vance (1912-1979)
Actress Vivian Vance was a native of Cherryvale, Kansas. While having starred in a variety of movies, Vance is best known as Lucy Ricardo's friend and neighbor, Ethel Mertz, in the classic television show I Love Lucy.
6 - James Naismith (1861-1939)
A native of Canada, Naismith moved to the United States where he invented the game of basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts. He joined the faculty of the University of Kansas in 1898, where he served as a member of the physical education faculty, chaplain and basketball coach. He lived in Lawrence until his death in 1939.
7 - Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
Dwight David Eisenhower grew up in Abilene, Kansas, and later attended the United States Military Academy. During World War II he rose to Supreme Allied Commander in the European Theater. Eisenhower was elected president in 1952 and served two terms in the White House.
8 - Eva Jessye (1895-1992)
Eva Jessye, a singer, actress, composer, choral director, author and poet lived in Coffeyville, Caney, Iola and Pittsburg, Kansas. Jessye saw the opportunity to preserve African American music by arranging and recording spirituals in concert tradition. She published a collection of traditional songs, My Spirituals, in the late 1920s. Jessye marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and her choir was the official choir for King's 1963 civil rights march.
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