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Home>Learn>Teachers>Lessons and Activities>Uncovering America>Gordon Parks
Photography
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UNCOVERING AMERICA

Themes

Activism and Protest   

Civil Rights Movement

Civil War and Its Aftermath

Expressing the Individual

Faces of America: Portraits

Gordon Parks Photography

Harlem Renaissance

Art and the Great Depression

Immigration and Displacement

Industrial Revolution

Manifest Destiny and the West

People and the Environment

Race in America

Transportation  


Women and Art


Related Resources

Image Set
Gordon Parks Photography
(PPT/ZIP 21.4MB)

Activity
Gordon Parks Photography: Words and Images

Gordon Parks Photography: What Tells a Story

Gordon Parks Photography: Making the Invisible Visible

Pinterest
Expanded Image Set

Additional Resources

The Gordon Parks Foundation


Ella Watson United States Government Charwoman, Documenting America, Library of
Congress


GORDON PARKS PHOTOGRAPHY

Gordon Parks, Self-Portrait, 1941, gelatin silver print, 50.8 × 40.64 cm (20 ×
16 in.), Private Collection. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks
Foundation

How does Gordon Parks use photography to address inequities in the United
States?

How do Gordon Parks’s images capture the intersections of art, race, class, and
politics across the United States?

What do photographs in general—and Gordon Parks’s photographs more
specifically—tell us about the American Dream?

“A photographer can be a storyteller. Images of experience captured on film,
when put together like words, can weave tales of feeling and emotion as bold as
literature.… [Photographers] bring together fact and fiction, experience,
imagination, and feelings in a visual dialogue that has enormous impact on how
we observe and relate to the external world and our internal selves.” —Philip
Brookman, “Unlocked Doors: Gordon Parks at the Crossroads,” Gordon Parks: Half
Past Autumn, 1997

What did you picture while reading this quote? Consider where you encounter
photographs and images in your own life. What impact do they have on you?

There is perhaps no individual who embodies the power of photography more than
Gordon Parks. Photographer, poet, musician, storyteller, activist—Gordon Parks
shaped the times in which he lived as much as he was shaped by them. Though his
career as a photographer spanned six decades, it is the period from 1940 to
1950, the focus of the exhibition Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work
1940–1950, that most significantly defined his point of view as an African
American artist and documenter of American life at the dawn of the modern civil
rights movement.



Download: Gordon Parks Photography Image Set (21.4MB)

Explore:  Classroom activities related to Gordon Parks

In 1937, while working as a waiter on the North Coast Limited passenger train,
Parks saw magazines featuring Depression-era photographs—images like Dorothea
Lange’s Migrant agricultural worker’s family, Nipomo, California that recorded
the social and economic conditions of migrant farmers across the country. For
Parks, images of dust bowl migrants reminded him of his own struggles and
inspired him to purchase his first camera, a life-changing decision. He later
recalled, “I was convinced of the power of a good picture.”

During the first decade of his career, Parks, a self-taught photographer,
captured the beauty, power, and stature of Chicago socialite Marva Louis; the
spirituality of churchgoers in Washington, DC; and portraits of prominent
African Americans like Richard Wright and Marian Anderson. But he would also use
his camera to shine a light on the injustices faced by black Americans, showing
the poverty, violence, and oppression that defined the decade from 1940 to 1950.
In the midst of World War II, with the American military still segregated,
photographs like Washington, D.C., Government charwoman (American Gothic) make a
bold statement about the disparities between the promise and realities of the
American Dream. When given the chance, Parks chose to “fight back” against the
inequalities he witnessed; his choice of weapons was a camera.

The photographs in this image set speak to the power of Parks’s voice as an
artist. His images certainly serve as documents of specific moments in time; but
individually and as a group they also reveal humanity, implore empathy, pose
questions, provoke outrage, and even inspire activism. Though taken decades ago,
Parks’s photographs capture individuals and represent issues and themes that
still resonate deeply with us today.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Self-Portrait, 1941, gelatin silver print, 50.8 × 40.64 cm (20 ×
16 in.), Private Collection. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks
Foundation

 

 

The youngest of 15 children, Gordon Parks was born in 1912 (d. 2006) in Fort
Scott, Kansas. His parents had moved there from Tennessee in the years following
the post–Civil War Reconstruction period. Although he was close with his
supportive family, Parks could not ignore the inequality and racism around him.
He recalls, “The indignities came so often that I soon began to accept them as
normal. But I always fought back.”

Parks purchased his first camera in 1937 and committed himself to becoming a
photographer. A consummate observer of the world, he found inspiration in
magazines, museums, and books. He began experimenting with portraiture and some
of his photographs were featured in the local African American newspaper in
Saint Paul, Minnesota. Though primarily self-taught, Parks’s education was
influenced by other artists and mentors he encountered in the early part of his
career. He would go on to achieve extraordinary success in his field, a major
accomplishment for an African American photographer during the 1940s. In
addition to photographing for Life, Ebony, and Vogue, Parks was a poet, author,
musician, and filmmaker.

Parks was just 28 years old when he took this self-portrait. He carefully
composed it to demonstrate his close connection with his vocation: his face is
aligned with the lens of his camera (one typical of those used by press
photographers at the time) and his expression is quite contemplative.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Marva Trotter Louis, Chicago, Illinois, 1941, gelatin silver
print, image: 24.13 × 20 cm (9 1/2 × 7 7/8 in.), sheet: 25.4 × 20.64 cm (10 × 8
1/8 in.), The Gordon Parks Foundation, GP04581. Courtesy of and copyright The
Gordon Parks Foundation

 

Early in his career, Parks found success as a fashion and portrait photographer.
Marva Trotter Louis, socialite, fashion designer, and wife of famous heavyweight
boxing champion Joe Louis, was an early supporter of Parks. She was one of many
people who encouraged him to move to Chicago in the early 1940s.

Here, Parks demonstrates the power of fashion, pose, gaze, and lighting as tools
to both convey the personality of the subject as well as make a captivating
image. What do you notice first about Marva Trotter Louis? Observe her clothing:
floral dress, long gloves, hat, and veil. Look at her pose: relaxed, turned
body; hand on hip; and a gaze which directly meets our own eyes. What do these
elements say about her? Dramatic lighting casts only one side of her body in
light; a dark shadow in profile dominates the left side of the image. Why might
Parks have arranged his composition this way?

Discuss how this image either challenges or reinforces your notions about race,
gender, class, and power. How might this portrait have been perceived in 1941,
the year it was taken?

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Charles White in front of his mural “Chaos of the American Negro,”
1941, gelatin silver print, image: 24 × 19.8 cm (9 1/2 × 7 13/16 in.), framed:
25.3 × 20.2 cm (9 15/16 × 7 15/16 in.), Charles White Archives. Courtesy of and
copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation

 

Parks moved to Chicago in 1941 and became affiliated with the South Side
Community Art Center, where he had a studio and darkroom. He developed
relationships with a number of artists living and working in Chicago, including
Charles White. White encouraged Parks, who was primarily shooting portraits, to
take his camera into the streets and document the poverty he found there.

With his own tools in hand, White is featured in front of his mural, Chaos of
the American Negro. What strategies does Parks use in his composition to
communicate his respect for this artist? Compare this portrait with Parks’s
Self-Portrait also taken in 1941 (Slide 1). What similarities and differences do
you notice?

Learn more about Charles White

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Langston Hughes, Chicago, December 1941, gelatin silver print,
printed later, Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection), 2016.117.102

As a leader of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes addressed important
racial issues of the day through his poetry, essays, and plays. His work
inspired many African American artists, including Gordon Parks. Parks had moved
to Chicago in 1941, and through his work with the South Side Community Art
Center had further developed the psychological content of his portraits.

The frame-within-a-frame composition of this portrait strikes a playful note,
counterbalanced by Hughes’s sober, contemplative expression. Is this a portrait
of Hughes or his hand? Physically separated from the rest of his body by the
frame, his hand and arm take on a special prominence in the photograph,
suggesting Hughes’s power as a writer.

Parks took this photograph just a couple of weeks after the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into World War II.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C. Three children waiting in the kitchen while their
mother prepares the evening meal. June 1942, gelatin silver print, sheet: 23.7 ×
18.7 cm (9 5/16 × 7 3/8 in.), mount: 29 × 24 cm (11 7/16 × 9 7/16 in.), Prints
and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

This is one of many photographs that Parks made in Washington while working for
the Farm Security Administration (FSA), a government agency. Roy Stryker, the
head of the FSA’s Historical Section, encouraged Parks to look closely at
photographs by other agency photographers before beginning his own work. The
subject and carefully arranged composition of this photograph demonstrate the
influence of that research. Parks uses strong lighting to illuminate a dark,
dirty interior with three young children sitting underneath a handwritten sign
indicating the bathroom behind them. In the foreground is a box of Epsom salt,
perhaps a nod to the daily manual labor performed by the unseen adults in the
house. The photograph is documentary in nature, but also highly manipulated and
evocative.

Parks included captions with his photographs meant to provide background
information. The caption states that the three subjects are waiting for their
mother to prepare dinner. How does this additional information help you read the
image?

If you could give this photograph a title (instead of a caption), what would it
be?

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Anacostia, D.C. Frederick Douglass Housing Project. A family says
grace before the evening meal. June 1942, gelatin silver print, image: 19.3 × 24
cm (7 5/8 × 9 7/16 in.), sheet: 20.6 × 25.2 cm (8 1/8 × 9 15/16 in.), The Museum
of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Mrs. Clare A. Glassell

In 1941 and 1942, under the auspices of the Federal Public Housing Authority and
the Alley Dwelling Authority (later renamed the National Capital Housing
Authority), new public housing, such as the Frederick Douglass Dwellings in the
Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, DC, was erected for black defense workers.
At this time housing, theaters, restaurants, and many shops in the nation’s
capital were segregated. Parks was assigned to cover life in the housing
project.

What can we learn about this family from looking at this photograph? Why might
the government have assigned a photographer to document life at this housing
project?

Consider that this picture was taken just months after the attack on Pearl
Harbor on December 7, 1941, when the American government was actively preparing
for war. Black Americans sought ways to support the war effort by enlisting in
the military or working in defense industries, but often faced discrimination in
their attempts to do so. Government-produced images such as this one offered
hope for the future by demonstrating that life was getting better for African
Americans, an idealistic representation of the lived experience at the time.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Washington (southwest section), D.C. Two Negro boys shooting
marbles in front of their home. November 1942, gelatin silver print, image: 9.2
× 11.7 cm (3 5/8 × 4 5/8 in.), sheet: 10 × 12.4 cm (3 15/16 × 4 7/8 in.), The
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Mundy Companies.
Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation

In the foreground of this photograph, two young boys are engaged in play. The
caption indicates that the run-down structure in the alley behind them,
surrounded by trash and urban squalor, is their home. The boys, so immersed in
their game, seem unaware of their surroundings as well as the photographer
capturing this moment.

What does this photograph tell you about the living conditions in Washington,
DC, in 1942? What details in the photograph support your conclusions? Imagine
you are a government official seeing this photograph for the first time. Does it
inspire you to take action? Why or why not? Support your thinking with details
from the photograph.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Washington (southwest section), D.C. Negro children in the front
door of their home. November 1942, gelatin silver print, 33.66 × 24.77 cm (13
1/4 × 9 3/4 in.), Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research
in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden
Foundations

What has brought these five children to the front door of their home? Why has
Parks chosen to photograph them in particular?

Parks gives us little visual information to answer those questions. Instead, he
offers us a moment to contemplate each of these children individually. What must
their lives be like? What do their expressions and crowded arrangement by the
door tell us about their connections as family? Parks had a particular
sensitivity to capturing the spirit, hope, and humanity of young people in urban
and rural settings.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C. Government charwoman cleaning after regular
working hours. July 1942, gelatin silver print, 35.56 × 27.94 cm (14 × 11 in.),
Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture,
The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

 

As one of Parks’s first assignments for the Farm Security Administration (FSA),
he interviewed Ella Watson, who was cleaning offices at the Department of
Agriculture, where the FSA was housed. He learned of her story of hardship and
with her permission photographed her not only at work, but at home, with her
family, and in her community. It was from this series of approximately 85 images
that Parks produced one his most iconic works, Washington, D.C. Government
charwoman (American Gothic). The additional photographs in the series offer a
multilayered presentation of Ella Watson’s life. Many of the images reflect the
oppression and hardship she, like Parks, experienced in Washington, DC, but they
also show moments of spirituality, love, and hope.

In this photograph, Parks shows Ella Watson alone, cleaning one of the many
government offices. The harsh light focused on one point on the floor casts
Watson into the shadows of the room, hinting at the invisibility of her work.
Consider the role of light in this photograph and compare it to Parks’s portrait
of Marva Trotter Louis.

What can we learn about Ella Watson’s professional and personal life from this
photograph?

Learn more about Washington, D.C. Government charwoman (American Gothic)

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C. Mrs. Ella Watson, a government charwoman, with
three grandchildren and her adopted daugther, July 1942, gelatin silver print,
printed later, Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection), 2016.117.106

As one of Parks’s first assignments for the Farm Security Administration (FSA),
he interviewed Ella Watson, who was cleaning offices at the Department of
Agriculture, where the FSA was housed. He learned of her story of hardship and
with her permission photographed her not only at work, but at home, with her
family, and in her community. It was from this series of approximately 85 images
that Parks produced one his most iconic works, Washington, D.C. Government
charwoman (American Gothic). The additional photographs in the series offer a
multilayered presentation of Ella Watson’s life. Many of the images reflect the
oppression and hardship she, like Parks, experienced in Washington, DC, but they
also show moments of spirituality, love, and hope.

This is an image of Watson at home with her family. We glimpse her adopted
daughter, Loretta, in the reflection of the mirror (on the right), seemingly
contemplating the photograph of Watson’s parents, also visible to us. Watson is
surrounded by her grandchildren in the kitchen, perhaps enjoying some time
together after dinner. Four generations are included in this photograph,
demonstrating the importance of Watson’s extended family.

What can we learn about Ella Watson’s professional and personal life from this
photograph?

Learn more about Washington, D.C. Government charwoman (American Gothic)

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Anacostia, D.C. Frederick Douglass housing project. Mother
watching her children as she prepares the evening meal. June 1942, gelatin
silver print, 25.4 × 20.3 cm (10 × 8 in.), Photography Collection, Miriam and
Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public
Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Courtesy of and copyright The
Gordon Parks Foundation

Compare this photograph with the one of Ella Watson similarly sitting by an open
window, both taken by Parks in 1942 in Washington, DC. What details do you
notice that help to tell each woman’s story? Why do you think he has us looking
at the backs of their heads? Do you consider these works to be portraits? Why or
why not?

What is Parks possibly communicating about race and gender in 1940s America?

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C., Mrs. Ella Watson, a Government Charwoman, July
1942, gelatin silver print, printed 1960s, Gift of Julia J. Norrell, 2015.119.1

Compare this photograph with the one of a mother in the Frederick Douglass
housing project similarly sitting by an open window, both taken by Parks in 1942
in Washington, DC. What details do you notice that help to tell each woman’s
story? Why do you think he has us looking at the backs of their heads? Do you
consider these works to be portraits? Why or why not?

What is Parks possibly communicating about race and gender in 1940s America?

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C. Johnnie Lew, owner of the laundry under the
apartment of Mrs. Ella Watson, a government charwoman, August 1942, gelatin
silver print, sheet: 18.2 × 23.3 cm (7 3/16 × 9 3/16 in.), mount: 24.1 × 29 cm
(9 1/2 × 11 7/16 in.), Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.

As the caption indicates, Parks took this photograph as part of his work
documenting Ella Watson’s life. This photograph offers a glimpse of the
diversity of people who contributed to life and labor in and around Washington,
DC. It is impossible to ignore that the subject, Johnnie Lew, is flanked by a
picture of 32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (over his right shoulder)
and an American flag (which waves above his left shoulder).

How does this image contribute to the story of labor in the United States?

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Lt. George Knox. 332nd Fighter Group training at Selfridge Field,
Michigan, October 1943, gelatin silver print mounted on board with caption,
image: 25.4 × 26.35 cm (10 × 10 3/8 in.), sheet: 27.31 × 26.35 cm (10 3/4 × 10
3/8 in.), The Gordon Parks Foundation, GP02596. Courtesy of and copyright The
Gordon Parks Foundation

In 1943, the increasingly unpopular Farm Security Administration (FSA) was
abolished, pieces of which were then absorbed into the Office of War Information
(OWI). Before the FSA closed though, Parks was selected to transfer to the OWI,
which he did in October 1942. He was assigned as a war correspondent to cover
the 332nd Fighter Group, the first regiment of black pilots, who were training
near Detroit, Michigan. Parks’s attempts to travel with the pilots for their
first deployment abroad were continually thwarted by officials in the federal
government, some of whom were not supportive of black pilots receiving such
publicity.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Dinner Time at Mr. Hercules Brown's Home, Somerville, Maine,
February 1944, gelatin silver print, printed later, Corcoran Collection (The
Gordon Parks Collection), 2016.117.128

Gordon Parks took this photograph while on assignment for the Standard Oil
Company (New Jersey), a corporation suffering a massive public relations crisis
related to a rubber shortage that threatened the country’s ability to fight in
World War II. Part of Parks’s assignment was to represent how the oil industry
positively impacted life in the United States. Parks spent eight days with the
Brown family, pictured here sharing a family meal.

Look closely at who is gathered around the table. Hercules Brown sits with his
wife, three daughters, and grandson. His son-in-law is away fighting in the war.
What can you learn about this family based on what you see in the photograph?
Notice how we, as the viewer, seem to be looking down at the table. Where do you
think Parks was when he took this picture?

Compare with this image with Anacostia, D.C. Frederick Douglass Housing Project.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Pittsburgh, Pa. The cooper’s plant at the Penola, Inc. grease
plant, where large drums and containers are reconditioned. March 1944, gelatin
silver print, sheet: 23.9 × 19.1 cm (9 7/16 × 7 1/2 in.), mount: 29 × 24 cm (11
7/16 × 9 7/16 in.), Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation

 

Employed by Penola, Inc., this anonymous African American worker toils to clean
grease barrels by dipping them in boiling lye. The only human presence in a
landscape of steam and steel, Parks uses dramatic lighting and a low angle to
present him as a hero of industry. Understanding that his efforts were one part
of an intricate system to supply essential lubricants to the military fighting
overseas elevates him to the status of American hero, perhaps.

Parks wrote to Roy Stryker from Pittsburgh: “Photographing the grease plant at
Pittsburgh was a pretty nasty job. It was nasty because in every building and on
every floor grease was underfoot. The interiors in the older buildings were
extremely dark and absorbed plenty of light, so it was necessary to use long
extensions and many bulbs. The extensions throughout the day were covered with
grease….I might add that a day at the grease plant leaves one with an enormous
appetite.”

Is this an image of American progress? Why or why not?

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C. Auxiliary police at a weekly meeting, July 1942,
gelatin silver print, 20.32 × 25.4 cm (8 × 10 in.), Photographs and Prints
Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public
Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

In 1942, Washington, DC, was still a segregated city. This meant that civilian
defense activities, such as this group of auxiliary police (reserves who could
be called up in an emergency), were also segregated. Serious, uniformed men
gather around their instructor against the backdrop of a large American flag and
the motto “GIVE IT YOUR BEST.” We have every reason to believe they are doing
just that.

This posed photograph made a case for the kind of patriotism that included
efforts by all Americans, regardless of race, to help the country fight and win
World War II.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Ferry boat from Staten Island to Manhattan, carrying early morning
commuters, New York City, November 1946, gelatin silver print, printed later,
Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection), 2016.117.129

Given its reliance on oil and lubricants, transportation was an important theme
for the documentary photographers at Standard Oil Company (New Jersey). New York
Harbor, where crowds of commuters made their way to Manhattan on the Staten
Island Ferry, represented the epicenter of this idea.

Consider the perspective in this photograph: Where is the photographer standing
to take this picture? What does this photograph tell us about the nature of work
in the United States? Who is present? Who is missing?

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Untitled, Harlem, New York, 1947, gelatin silver print, image:
17.78 × 17.46 cm (7 × 6 7/8 in.), sheet: 20.32 × 18.42 cm (8 × 7 1/4 in.), The
Gordon Parks Foundation, GP04135. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks
Foundation

Here, Parks tackles issues of race in a visibly bold manner, reminiscent of his
work Washington, D.C. Government charwoman (American Gothic).

Parks took this picture on assignment for Ebony magazine in 1947 for an article
called, “Problem Kids: New Harlem clinic rescues ghetto youth from emotional
short circuit.” The article featured the work of psychiatrists Mamie and Kenneth
Clark, whose “doll test” research investigated issues of segregation and
self-esteem in black children. African American children in segregated schools
were shown a black doll and a white doll and then asked to choose one. The
majority picked the white doll, indicating that segregation impacted the
children’s feelings of self-worth. Their research, while not wholly scientific,
was used in school desegregation lawsuits including Brown v. Board of Education
(1954).

Imagine you are the editor of Ebony magazine. Would you have chosen to include
this image in your story? Why or why not?

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Trapped in abandoned building by a rival gang on street, Red
Jackson ponders his next move, 1948, gelatin silver print, Corcoran Collection
(The Gordon Parks Collection), 2015.19.4605

On assignment for Life magazine, Parks followed Leonard “Red” Jackson, a
17-year-old Harlem gang leader. Parks’s photo essay captured the violence and
fear experienced by gang members and their families, and positioned him as an
important documentary photographer. A year later, Parks would become the first
African American to be named staff photographer at Life. Forty years later,
Parks ran into Red Jackson, who suggested, “You know, you and me could go back
up to Harlem together and save some of those kids up there. I’m always asking
myself about how I got into so much trouble” (Gordon Parks, Half Past Autumn: A
Retrospective [Boston, 1999], 84).

This photograph does not directly depict the danger associated with gang
violence. Jackson does not face the camera, yet the photograph offers close,
almost intimate, access to the subject. It invites us to consider what he might
be thinking, seeing, or feeling. What role might these photographs play in a
larger essay on gang violence? Do they offer hope? Describe how the setting,
details, and lighting in each photograph inform your opinion.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Red’s Younger Brother at Home, Harlem, 1948, gelatin silver print,
image: 22.1 × 33.4 cm (8 11/16 × 13 1/8 in.), framed: 40.64 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20
in.), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial
Fund, 2002.70

On assignment for Life magazine, Parks followed Leonard “Red” Jackson, a
17-year-old Harlem gang leader. Parks’s photo essay captured the violence and
fear experienced by gang members and their families, and positioned him as an
important documentary photographer. A year later, Parks would become the first
African American to be named staff photographer at Life. Forty years later,
Parks ran into Red Jackson, who suggested, “You know, you and me could go back
up to Harlem together and save some of those kids up there. I’m always asking
myself about how I got into so much trouble” (Gordon Parks, Half Past Autumn: A
Retrospective [Boston, 1999], 84).

This photograph does not directly depict the danger associated with gang
violence. Red Jackson's brother does not face the camera, yet the photograph
offers close, almost intimate, access to the subject. It invites us to consider
what he might be thinking, seeing, or feeling. What role might these photographs
play in a larger essay on gang violence? Do they offer hope? Describe how the
setting, details, and lighting in each photograph inform your opinion.

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Tenement Dwellers, Chicago, 1950, gelatin silver print, 32.7 ×
27.62 cm (12 7/8 × 10 7/8 in.), The Gordon Parks Foundation, GP04541. Courtesy
of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation

In 1950, Life assigned Parks to produce a story about school segregation, then
an increasingly important issue in the nation’s discourse on civil rights. Parks
chose to return to his hometown of Fort Scott, Kansas, to find out what had
become of his classmates from the segregated Plaza School. Part documentary,
part nostalgia, this trip offered Parks a chance to reflect on how his
understanding of a place changed with time and how segregation affected the
lives of his classmates and friends.

Compare the two photographs of Parks’s former classmates. They ended up in
different cities, Chicago and Detroit respectively. What else is different about
their life paths? How might they each represent the effects of segregation?

Imagine you had the opportunity to return to your hometown 30 years from now.
What might you expect to see? What would you photograph?

Gordon Parks Photography

Gordon Parks, Husband and Wife on Sunday Morning, Detroit, Michigan, 1950,
gelatin silver print, 40.01 × 49.85 cm (15 3/4 × 19 5/8 in.), The Gordon Parks
Foundation, GP06161. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation

In 1950, Life assigned Parks to produce a story about school segregation, then
an increasingly important issue in the nation’s discourse on civil rights. Parks
chose to return to his hometown of Fort Scott, Kansas, to find out what had
become of his classmates from the segregated Plaza School. Part documentary,
part nostalgia, this trip offered Parks a chance to reflect on how his
understanding of a place changed with time and how segregation affected the
lives of his classmates and friends.

Compare the two photographs of Parks’s former classmates. They ended up in
different cities, Chicago and Detroit respectively. What else is different about
their life paths? How might they each represent the effects of segregation?

Imagine you had the opportunity to return to your hometown 30 years from now.
What might you expect to see? What would you photograph?






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