Essay on Gordon Parks Photograph A Harlem Family 1967 PDF

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artifact assignment when you have to pick two artifacts from history to discuss the difference, meaning and purpose of the two....

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1 L. Williams

Gordon Parks Titled "Fontenelles at the Poverty Board " it was taken in 1967 in Harlem New York. This picture was to capture how inner cities were falling apart. The theme of Gordon Parks photograph he wanted to show America the burdens of African Americans. He set doing so by use of camera. After looking through the essay photograph Gordon Parks created, his masterful capture the soul of the inner city, you seen defeat, despair and pain, hunger, anger, sorrow, and sadness. No human with a heart could not help but feel for this family who spoke for thousands of families living in poverty. The Purpose Gordon Parks was asked by Philip Kunhardt, a Life editor to tell him and, by extension, Life's overwhelmingly white readership, “why African Americans were "rioting in the big cities practically every month?" (John Edwin Mason,1996) Parks had no issue with doing this assignment in fact it was his mission to challenge his anger towards racism by doing so with his photo essay. He used his camera as his voice in the struggle for racial injustices. Gordon Park embrace the idea to show white America the burdens of African Americans and he had the platform to do so with Life magazine. The significance behind the Fontenelles at the poverty board was to show a desperate plea (Davies). For the nation to set aside bigotry for a more hopeful future. He wanted people to know what one goes through to understand why violence takes place. Rioting stems from people saying enough is enough, being tired of being treated differently based on color. Poverty does not steam from lack of success or education. African Americans was forced to live in lower income houses and areas because of the color of their

2 skin. These areas became neglected because no one wanted to come there to assist them of the needs that were needed. Gordon Parks wanted to use his opportunity to show the viewers that there is more to discuss then riots. He wanted everyone to see people of color pain and suffering. The Negro and the cities constitute the nation's most alarming domestic problem. Yet, except when violence flares up, people ignore it’s appalling realities. (Parks,1968). Gordon Parks photo was conveyed to feel sympathy. Most of the reviews of Life magazine felt the urge to wanted to send in money they felt bad for the family. Some conveyed it to be Achieving Social Justice through Spatial Justice. “We are not so far apart as it might seem. There is something about both of us that goes deeper than blood or black and white. It is our common search for a better life, a better world. I march now over the same ground you once marched. I fight for the same things you still fight for. My children’s needs are the same as your children’s. I too am America. America is me. It gave me the only life I know—so I must share in its survival. Look at me. Listen to me. Try to understand my struggle against your racism. There is yet a chance for us to live in peace beneath these restless skies.” (Parks, 1968).

Reference

Mason, J. E. (1996). Gordon Parks: “A Harlem Family,” Life Magazine, 1968. John Edwin Mason: Documentary, Motorsports, Photo History. https://johnedwinmason.typepad.com/john_edwin_mason_photogra/2013/01/gordon-parksharlem-family.html Davies, K. (2013, March 2). The heart-breaking photographs of a Harlem family which reveal the poverty of 1960s New York. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2286889/The-heart-breaking-photographs-Harlemfamily-reveal-poverty-1960s-New-York-tragic-end-haunted-photographer-took-them.html

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https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/gordon-parks/photography-archive/the-fontenellefamily-1967 Achieving Social Justice through Spatial Justice: A Review of Gordon Parks: A Harlem Family 1967-Design Studies. (2013, March 17). https://adht.parsons.edu/designstudies/achieving-socialjustice-through-spatial-justice-a-review-of-gordon-parks-a-harlem-family-1967...