Carl Cotton
Carl Cotton (1918–1971) was an American taxidermist known for his work on exhibition development at the Field Museum of Natural History from 1947 to 1971. He was the first African American taxidermist at the Field Museum and, as noted by museum staff, likely the first professional black taxidermist in all of Chicago. Early life and education Born in 1918, Cotton spent his childhood in South Side, Chicago, in the area around Washington Park. He grew up around other children that would go on to have creative histories related to the art mecca they lived in, including local historian Timuel Black, poet and author Gwendolyn Brooks, and artist Charles White. Black discussed how he was childhood friends with Cotton and that, because of his young interest in the field of taxidermy, “cats and rats ran when they saw Carl.” He had already been practicing on the methods of stuffing and mounting already deceased small animals he found and, once his skills had improved enough, neighbors would bring their pets that had died to be stuffed as well. Cotton was noted by Black to have the desire to "preserve the image of other life besides human life". A school field trip to