Art Properties and the Rare Books and Manuscript Library (RBML) recently acquired photographs by the pioneering African-American photographer and filmmaker, Gordon Parks (1912–2006). Parks was largely self-taught but found work as a freelance photographer in the mid-1940s at magazines such as Glamour and Ebony. He earned a position at Life magazine with an acclaimed photojournalistic segment published in the November 1948 issue recounting the story of Red Jackson, leader of a Harlem gang called the Midtowners. Parks worked at the magazine for another twenty years, producing compelling exposés of racial injustice and poverty, while also covering stories ranging from fashion to sports. In the 1960s he photographed the Civil Rights movement and the impact of segregation throughout the South. He also photographed compelling portraits of civil rights leaders in action, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael.

The majority of the photographs acquired by Art Properties and RBML fall into three series, all of which have deep connections to New York City and to Columbia University Libraries existing collections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1) Doll Test, 1947 (RBML) – Gordon Parks documented the pioneering work of Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, the first African-Americans to earn doctorates in psychology from Columbia University. The Clarks conducted a series of experiments utilizing dolls with different skin colors. The experiments, undertaken at the Northside Testing and Consultation Center in Harlem, illuminated the pernicious effects of segregation and were later used as evidence in Brown versus the Board of Education. Ebony magazine published images from this series in 1947.

2) Invisible Man, 1952 (RBML) – Gordon Parks collaborated with Ralph Ellison on a photographic series published in Life Magazine called “A Man Become Invisible.” The photographs illustrated scenes from Ellison’s novel and blurred the boundary between “realism and fantasy.” Curators frequently teach with Ellison’s manuscript for the Invisible Man, which is part of the Random House Papers in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The photographs provide a stunning, visual complement to the manuscript and illuminate the connections between African-American artists working in different mediums during the middle of the twentieth century.

3) The Fontenelle Family, 1967 (Art Properties) – Parks was part of a team of photojournalists assigned by Life to capture the lives of families in various parts of the country. He chose Harlem and met with the Fontenelle family, recent immigrants from the British West Indies who were struggling to survive in New York. Parks captured images of the family that, when published in March 1968, led to an outpouring of grief and support for this family. The family were active participants working with Parks to capture the truth of their struggles to make a new life for themselves. The bond they forged with Parks outlived the project and Parks remained in contact with the Fontanelles for decades after these images were published. These works complement existing photography holdings in Art Properties and will be used in classes on the history of photography.