Carole Boston Weatherford - Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America

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12

T

he youngest of fifteen, Parks arrives stillborn
and is nearly left for dead until a dip
in ice water shocks his tiny heart to beat.

The baby is named for the man who saved his life,
Dr. Gordon.

When young Gordon crosses the prairie
on horseback, nothing seems beyond reach.

But his white teacher tells her all-black class,
Youll all wind up porters and waiters.

What did she know?

After Gordon loses
his mother at age fifteen,
he moves in with his sister
in Minnesota.

Soon on his own,
Gordon works odd jobs:
busboy, piano player,
and finally
porter and waiter.

Twenty-five years old and all but broke
when a magazine spread
about migrant farm workers
inspires him to buy a used camera. That $7.50
is the best money he will ever spend.

In one month he teaches himself enough
for an exhibit at a camera store.

Soon, he is shooting fashion and portraits.
One model tells him to take
his camera to the big city.

In Chicago, Gordons shots
of struggling families
on the South Side
win him a chance to be
a government photographer.

He leaves the Midwest
and turns his camera
on Washington.

Gordon wonders,
What should I shoot?

Search for a subject ,
says his boss.

In the nations capital, he passes
the White House
and the Supreme Court.

In the shadow of the Capitol,
he sees black families living in alley dwellings.
He can see that blacks have it harder than whites.

He passes statues, monuments,
and memorials to mighty heroes.

But there are enough photos
of white men carved
in marble and granite.

He glimpses whites-only signs
in shop windows and learns firsthand
that even if there is no sign,
it doesnt mean that a black man
will be served.

Boiling mad, Parks vows to lay bare racism
with his lens. He shares his vision
with his boss, who points him toward his subject.

Talk to her.
She knows struggle.

She is Ella Watson, a cleaning lady in the building
where Parks works. She supports her grandchildren
on just over one thousand dollars a year.

The photographer
follows her for weeks.

Home.

Church.

And to work
at four in the afternoon.

After a long day, she studies
the Bible with her family.

Gordon takes pictures
of her grandchildren too.

Dressing.

Eating.

Reading.

Playing.

Not yet knowing the racism
that they will surely face.

Over his long career,
Gordons photos will run
in Vogue and Life magazines
their first black photographer.

He will write novels, make movies,
compose music and poetry,
and be hailed a Renaissance man.

But Gordons most famous shot
will be American Gothic.

In the newspaper, the photo
exposed to the nation
the unfairness of segregation.

Standing before
the flag of freedom,
cleaning lady Ella Watson
holds the tools of her trade

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12

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