Gordon Parks' Images of Alabama Segregation in 1956 are an Important Reminder to All Americans

by Nomad

In honor of the tenth anniversary of the death of photographer, film director, musician, and writer Gordon Parks, we look at the man's life and work. His images serve to remind us that when people talk about taking America back to a better time, we need to pay close attention what they mean to every American.  

To appreciate the photography of Gordon Parks- or any artist- we need to understand his origins and his early experiences.

Hard Times in the Heartland

Parks was born on November 30, 1912, in Fort Scott, Kansas, the youngest of fifteen children. According to his biography, his family was dirt-poor in a town of considerable racial tension. 

When Gordon was 15, his mother died and he was sent to live with a sister and her husband in St. Paul, Minnesota. After an argument with his hosts, Parks ended up a homeless high school dropout.
Fortunately for him, he had a natural talent for the piano and, after a series of jobs, he joined a touring band. That gig took him to New York. 

After the band broke up, Parks again faced hard times, this time in Harlem. During the Great Depression, he was living in a rat-infested tenement and unable to find work.

In 1933, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). part of FDR's recovery program after the Great Depression.

Around this time, he married Sally Alvis in 1933 and returned to St. Paul a year later. He found work as a dining-car waiter and porter on the North Coast Limited. The couple had three children, Gordon, Jr., Toni, and David.

The Vision of an Invisible Man

One could say that at this point, Gordon's story was not a particularly distinctive life. He gave no outward sign that he would go on to do great things or even that he had impressive talents, outside of his musical ability. Had you been around at that time, it might have been easy to overlook this practically invisible man. 

Looking back at those hard times, Parks wrote:

I suffered evils, but without allowing them to rob me of the freedom to expand.

Segregation and Dot Counts: What History Tells Us about Resistance to Progress

by Nomad

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is the story behind this photograph? The young woman's name is Dorothy Counts.

We tend to think of the 1960s as the Era of the Social Movement but in fact, the great sweeps of reform began a decade earlier. The movement. it's true, reached its zenith during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. However, the impetus for social change began as a result of a constitutional challenge mostly that eventually made its way to the high court. 

It was the culmination of a campaign by The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and its legal offspring, the Legal Defense and Educational Fund, against the doctrine of “separate but equal.”