Gordon Parks was born in 1912, the youngest of fifteen children, and grew up in Fort Scott Kansas where he experienced first hand what segregation was like for the black community. He attended a segregated school and was told to forget about aspirations of a higher education. Life for Gordon would probably have been one of menial jobs making ends meet had he not had his life altering epiphany. It was upon seeing images of migrant workers in a magazine that he was drawn to photography and It was in his 20's that Gordon had his epiphany. I his own words Gordon said "I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera." At the age of 25 Gordon bought his first camera from a pawn shop and began his own journey as a Photographer.
In 1930's America the wall street crash and great depression that followed was tough for Gordon. He got work where he could, he was a waiter, a musician, a bartender and even played basketball at a semi professional level. He saved what money he could and bought his first camera, a Voightlander Brilliant, from a pawn shop in Seattle when he was working on the railways. He began teaching himself how to use it with some photo's of Pugent Sound in Seattle. Little did he know where that first experience of photography would lead him. The shopkeeper at the Eastman Kodak shop in Minneapolis where he lived at the time was impressed with his images and allowed Gordon to exhibit some of his photo's in the shop. It's unknown when that first exhibition took place, but it set Gordon on his journey and he never looked back.
Gordon grew as a photographer over the next few years, finding work with various newspapers and other organisations and also earning some awards for his work. Life got interesting for Gordon when he applied for and won a coveted Rosenwald Fellowship in 1942. He served that fellowship with the Farm Security Administration, one of Roosevelts "New Deal" programs intended to show "The Face Of America", as a trainee under Roy Stryker, a noted American economist and government official during that time. His education went into overdrive and his already good reputation as a photographer took a significant step towards the level he wanted to achieve.
It was during this time that he took his acclaimed American Gothic ; Washington D.C. portrait of Ella Watson mimicking the famous Grant Wood painting, American Gothic. He pictured Ella holding the tools of her trade, a mop and broom, stood in front of an American Flag, hanging vertically in an office. Roy Stryker had seen his ealrier photo's of Ella and encouraged Gordon to study her until they got the shot. Gordon followed Ella in every aspect of her life, at work, at home and even her attendance at church as he further developed his style.
It was after WW2 that Gordon's work would really come to prominence with his photo essays for Life magazine that included one titled "The Restraints: Open and Hidden" depicting life for three black american families in and around Mobile Alabama. His work was fraught with danger, at one point Gordon and hs colleague Sam Yette had to leave town in a hurry when their handler, known as Freddie, sent them to a bodyguard who turned out to be the leader of the "White Citizen's Council", a group as notorious as the KKK for their hatred of black people. The essay was published in the September 1956 edition of Life magazine but had teriible unintended consequences for one of the black families whom were treated appallingly by the locals who stripped them of their possessions and ran them out of town. Parks ensured that Life Magazine provided the family with support to get a fresh start elsewhere until they once again became self sufficient.
Gordon Parks earned many awards in his career, from local awards for his newspaper work to the Rosenwald Fellowship that sent his career to a whole new level. In 1960 Gordon Parks was named Photographer Of The Year by the American Society Of Magazine Photographers. To be recognised by your peers is often called corporate back slapping, but for a Black Photographer at the height of segregation it was very high praise indeed.
Gordon parks was not just a photographer, he was a musician, a writer and a film maker. He directed the movie "Shaft", he wrote several books on photography both technical help and photo books and he even had one of his songs played on the radio. However, his talent at documenting life through photography led to him earning more awards and more fame in the 1960's for his work documenting the Civil Rights Movement and included a study of Muhammad Ali that is considered the definitive study of the greatest boxer ever.
Gordon would not have been in a position to do this had he not done the hard work, the countless little jobs that built a portfolio, be it for his local newspaper or his fellowship at the FSA. He was self taught and learned his craft the hard way. I have had the benefit of some tuition from some great people, but we must also learn from the masters, the people who captured life on film and told the stories that needed to be told. Gordon was as integral to the Civil Rights Movement as Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X, he took a photo of Malcolm X meeting Martin Luther King Jr that has become iconic in the Civil Rights Movement. His photographs of the marches, the demonstrations and brutality meted on the protesters by the powers that be show us the power of photography as a medium for change.
As I write this the world is still reeling from the death of George Floyd and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Had Gordon Parks still been with us he would definitely have been in the thick of it, camera in hand capturing images that would hang on gallery walls for many decades to come. The Gordon Parks Foundation was founded in 2006 by George Parks and his long time friend and editor at Life magazine Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr. It's mission is to further what Parks described as "the common search for a better life and a better world", conserving Gordons work and supporting new generations of artists advancing social justice. If that strikes a chord with you then please visit the Gordon Parks Foundation website at www.gordonparksfoundation.org/
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| Gordon Parks self portrait 1948 |
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