This is the third part of a special three-part series highlighting the input of African-Americans in our collective history that oftentimes is overlooked in traditional classes and showcases important African-Americans in the fields of: Art, Literature, Music, Photography, Sports, and Politics.
Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3
Essay on African-American Photographer Gordon Parks
By Rob Hart
Photography Editor
"Don't waste your parents money on college," Gordon Parks recalls his white teacher, Miss McClintock, telling a group of black children, "You'll wind up porters and maids. To graduate here is enough." To date Gordon Parks has written 14 books, a ballet, over a dozen musical compositions, eight films and has had hundreds of exhibitions of his photography and paintings, as well as had his photographs appear on the pages of the most read magazines in the world. Parks was also the first black photographer to work for Vogue and Life magazine.
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Gordon Parks was the first African-American photographer for both Life and Vogue Magazine, and the first to direct a movie for a Hollywood film studio. Parks was also known for his mastery of the written word. His autibiographic novel, The Learning Tree was the first film that he made.
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Parks was born in 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas to a life of poverty and racism and has turned all of his hardship into accomplishment. After the death of his mother at the age of 15, Parks went to Minneapolis and worked a series of odd jobs for the next 10 years. He read a lot of magazines and saw work by such influential photographers as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, who documented America during the depression. Parks recalled in his Book Half Past Autumn, "They were photographing poverty, and I knew poverty so well." After purchasing his first camera for $7.50, Parks, found he had purchased "a weapon against a warped past and an uncertain future."
Parks convinced a clothing store to let him do some fashion photographs and his pictures lead to other assignments in Chicago. In 1941 Parks became the first photographer to receive a fellowship from the Rosenwald Foundation, he chose to work with the Farm Security Administration, a government program that allowed photographers to chronicle the lives of American poverty. This also allowed Parks to work alongside the photographers he so admired.
In 1942, Parks shot one of his most famous photographs, American Gothic, a parody of the famous Grant Wood painting of the same name. This was a black woman, Ella Washington, posed in front of the American flag holding a mop and broom starring blankly into the camera. This early image showed the hints of what would stick with Parks throughout his career; a straight-forward style that was uneasy, challenging and true to the feelings of his subjects.
Parks was then hired at Vogue Magazine and published two books about photography. In 1948, he called the photo editor from Life Magazine and when asked what he wanted to cover answered, "Gang wars up in Harlem, and fashions."
Parks soon began to photograph using a simple style that defined many of his picture stories and told the larger tale through the story of one person. Red Jackson was the leader of the Midtowners, one of New York City’s toughest gangs. Parks followed this sixteen-year-old through knife fights and funerals for his fallen members. He could show the hardness of a gang leader, yet have the ability to capture him in quiet moments of reflection that seem as tender as a teenager with no worldly cares.
By 1950, Parks was on a different path, and Paris to be. There, he made friends and shot photographs of celebrities. He even spent a few weeks on an island where Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini were making a film at the time the two became involved in their famous love affair. Amid the media barrage Life was the only magazine allowed to cover this story.
One of his most successful projects came in 1961, when he photographed a story about Flavio Da Silva, a young boy growing up in the slums of Rio De Janerio. Silva lived in a one-room shack with his parents
and other family members. The photographs showed his failing health and the affect on the family. Readers were so moved by Silva’s story and the photographs that they began to contribute money. Silva was eventually transported to America for medical treatment.
The 1960s were a time of great social change. Parks responded to the change by publishing his first autobiographical novel based on his childhood in Kansas, “The Learning Tree.” He also began to photograph more stories that centered on race relations. He photographed many black Muslims including Malcolm X.
The early ‘60s were also a time when Parks began to dive into filmmaking. He made a movie based on the The Learning Tree and became the first African American to make a major Hollywood film. Parks also went on to make the movie, “Shaft,” the first of a genre of film called blaxsploitation.
Parks is still today working at the age of 88, writing poetry, making photographs and composing music. He was one of the first African Americans who broke down barriers of all kinds. Although he is most well-known for his photographs that changed the way people looked at the lives of poverty, and high society alike. His retrospective is scheduled to come to Chicago in October of 2001.
Essay on Black Power Movement
By Donnie Seals Jr.
Assistant Photography Editor
The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s was a turbulent time in America. Race relations between blacks and whites were still tense from the days of the Civil War. It was the rise of blacks in communities across the nation, which aided the implementation of change. Black leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X helped start crusades during this time to help black people rise above the rank of second-class citizens. Both men had different methods of accomplishing their goals. King believed in non-violent protest to achieve equality. Through peaceful sit-ins and demonstrations in the South, King and the many groups he participated in strove to break the chains of the Jim Crow laws for the future.
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Gordon Parks photographed Malcolm X delivering a speech during a Black Muslim rally in Chicago in 1963. Parks worked on a photographic story in the early sixties documenting the lives of black Muslims.
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Malcolm X had a different approach; he felt that the ways of non-violent protests were not producing the results for the black communities of America. Under the leadership of Elijah Muhammed and the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X preached about black power and the ways of self-righteousness to black people of America.
Some of the power and influence of these black leaders would fade with their violent assassinations. But although they were not physically present, their messages and views were carried by the young black youth. The Black Panther Party, consisting of two groups, adopted the views of King and Malcolm X throughout the rest of the Civil Rights movement. The energy of these groups and the dedication of the youth provided helped to spawn another revolution of black people in their fight for equality. There were times of chaos among the groups, but ultimately they provided hope and a vision of freedom to communities that needed a sense of leadership.
Students, during the early 1960s, participated in sit-ins and other non-violent demonstrations across America in restaurants, bars and other “white only” locations. Leaders of the NAACP took notice of the work being done by the students, and granted them $800 to begin the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. One of the first assignments for the SNCC, also known as SNICK, was to organize the Freedom Rides to the South. The Freedom Riders were Northerns who traveled to the South to help black voters register to vote. During this time, more than 300 people were arrested in attempting to help southern blacks register to vote. With a membership and working staff of over 150 students, the SNCC split with the Freedom Riders campaign, but continued to focus on non-violent demonstrations in the South.
During 1963 through 1964, the SNCC created the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to persuade black and white Americans in Congress to support the Civil Rights movement. Their primary goal was to gain seats at the National Democratic Convention.
At this point, the SNCC had grown from a small, student-run organization to a national one. They were receiving money from across the nation to help their cause.
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Parks also photographed the Black Panther movement. Here Elderidge Cleaver and his wife pose with a picture of Black Panther founder Huey Newton in 1970.
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In 1963, the SNCC elected Stokely Carmichael as national chairman. His leadership started a new movement in the SNCC as he took the group to new directions. During a speech in Greenwood, Mississippi, Carmichael made a statement, which would served to distinguish his group from the other Civil Rights groups and change the way black people looked towards the future: “The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin’ us is to take over. We been saying freedom for six years and we ain’t got nothin’. What we gonna start saying now is black power.”
The term “black power,” derived from Carmichael’s speach that day, became a powerful movement in America. Richard Wright and other Civil Rights leaders had used the term, but never in such a forceful manner. It was never said in a manner that had black Americans cheering and shouting the phrase everyday. It was never said in a manner that sparked a lifestyle among blacks in America. It was never said the way Carmichael had said it that day.
Essay on Africian-Americans in Athletics
By Grahm Couch
Sports Editor
Jesse Owens dominated track and field in the 1930’s, but he is remembered for much more than just his running prowess. Perhaps the moment that has brought him the most fame, was his four gold medal performance in the in front of Adolf Hitler in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. However, Owens did much more than that. While in high school in Alabama, Owens tied the 100-yard world record. He attended Ohio State University, and on May 25, 1935 Owens dominated the Big Ten Championships. Fighting off a sore back, Owens set five world records and tied a sixth.
During his famed performance in Berlin, Owens won gold in the 100 meters, 200 m, 4x100 m relay, and the long jump. After the competition he did not receive a handshake from Hitler, as all other Gold Medalist did. Of Hitler’s snub Owens replied, “I wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either.”
Owens died in 1980 of lung cancer, just four years before Carl Lewis equaled his Olympic feat, at least athletically.
In 1947, as a 28 year-old rookie, Jackie Robinson became the first black ever to play in the Major Leagues.
Fans and the media reacted differently to Robinson breaking the “color line.” Many fans were enthusiastic, while others expressed wariness or even open hostility to the idea of a black man playing in the Majors.
The Sporting News, which had opposed Robinson’s entry, named Robinson rookie of the year. They later named the award after him in 1987.
Robinson, who spent all 11 seasons in the Dodgers organization, had to deal with death threats and insults throughout his entire career. He handled it with dignity and class. He protested and spoke out against teams that refused to hire black players and hotels that wouldn’t let him stay with his teammates.
Being the first black to play in the Major Leagues was impressive enough, but Robinson was also a tremendous player. He had a career .311 batting average, stole home 19 times, and played in six World Series.
In 1949, Robinson was named the National League Most Valuable Player. That season he batted .342 with 37 stolen bases. More impressively, baseball might have been Robinson’s fourth best sport. He also starred in track, football, and basketball at UCLA.
Arthur Ashe was one of the most prominent tennis players of his time. However, his legacy would be as much for the causes he championed as his game on the court.
In 1963, Ashe became the first black ever selected to the American Davis Cup team. As a frequent member of Davis Cup, he took great honor in representing his country.
In 1968 he won the U.S. Open. Then in 1969, his determination to succeed despite being an outcast in a historically white sport was put to the test.
Two issues came to the forefront that helped shape Ashe as an activist. Due to low prize money for players, Ashe and several other players, formed the Association of Tennis Professionals, now known as the ATP. Later that year, as the #1 ranked American, Ashes’ visa to play in the South African Open was denied because of the color of his skin. He called for the banishment of South Africa form the tennis tour and from the Davis Cup tournament.
His initial efforts helped raise the world’s awareness about the injustices taking place in South Africa.
In 1975, with rumors stirring that Ashe was spending too much time as an activist and not enough focusing on his game, Ashe won Wimbledon. The then 31-year-old also earned the #1 world ranking.
He retired in 1980. In 1988, it was discovered that Ashe had the HIV virus. He had apparently contracted it during a heart surgery in 1983.
After spending his final years raising AIDS awareness, Ashe succumb to the disease on Feb. 6, 1993.
Black History Month becomes a time to reflect and learn about American history, not just Black Americans. The contributions of these Americans laid the groundwork and foundation for a country of all colors and creeds. So it’s not just Black America’s history, it’s yours. Take this time to reflect and learn about some of these great individuals. Their stories of struggle against racism in America will help you reflect on your own life. Think about it? What freedoms do you take for granted? There are many more stories of black Americans; from teachers, politicians and scientists, that go unnoticed that have contributed to the growth and development of this country. Going into the new millennium, let us continue the studies of accomplished Black Americans for the new generation.
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