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bessie and her son richard by Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks’s compelling photograph of Bessie Fontenelle and her youngest son Richard, Jr., was published by Life magazine on March 8, 1968, as part of a special feature on blacks and poverty called A Harlem Family (or At the Poverty Board). Parks’s essay and twenty-five photographs vividly depict the hardships of a Harlem family living under deplorable conditions. Taken shortly after Bessie violently retaliated against her husband’s abuse, this image, which appears on the opening spread, captures both her love for her son and her deep frustration and exhaustion—the dichotomy of a life torn between hope and despair. Her sadness is tempered by her child’s wide-eyed innocence. The article begins with this admonition: “What I want/What I am/What you force me to be/is what you are,” suggesting that we are all part of one global family. Sadly, only young Richard survived the family’s hardships and grew up to escape poverty.

by Indiana University Art Museum

nude by Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks  (1912 - 2006)

The Original Renaissance man is one of his many titles.

The achievements of Gordon Parks alone, proves that any vision can become a reality if you take advantage of an opportunity, work hard and believe in yourself.

From birth, Parks went against all odds.

He came into this world as a fighter, still born and pronounced dead with no heartbeat. Parks was laid aside to be buried,  a shocking technique that included putting his body in ice-cold water brought him back to life.  And from then on, the legend continued to make his mark by reaching major milestones and going where others were afraid to explore.

Before his death he became an internationally-renowned photographer, filmmaker, poet, novelist and a composer. Parks was the co-founder of Essence magazine; he even wrote a ballet and dedicated it to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

by VA Mag

http://visionaryartistrymag.com/2010/09/art-the-original-renissance-man/

harlem newsboy by Gordon Parks

by gordon parks

Gordon Parks (1912 -2006)

He was stillborn — no heartbeat, declared dead by the family doctor, and put aside for later burial. Another doctor in the delivery room had an idea, and immersed the newborn in ice-cold water. The shock caused his heart to start beating, and the baby was soon crying and healthy, and named for Dr. Gordon, who had saved his life. In the more than ninety years of his life, Gordon Parks became internationally renowned as a photographer, filmmaker, poet, novelist, and composer.

Parks grew up poor in Fort Scott, Kansas, the youngest of 15 children. One of his early memories was hearing his all-black class told by their white schoolteacher, “You’ll all wind up porters and maids.” His mother died when Parks was 14, and he was sent to live with an older sister in Minneapolis, until her husband kicked him out. Between bouts of homelessness, he earned rent as a piano player in a bordello. He also worked as a busboy, a Civilian Conservation Corpsman, and as his teacher had predicted, as a porter and later waiter on the transcontinental North Coast Limited.

At 25, he bought a used camera for $7.50 and began working as a self-taught freelance photographer, focusing on everything from fashion to the effects the depression in Chicago’s slums. By 1944, he was the only black photographer working for Vogue, and in 1948 he became the first black photographer at Life, the most prestigious magazine of its day for photography. Eventually Life sent him to France, Italy, and Spain, and stateside he became known for his photos documenting the civil rights movement. He reported on segregation in Alabama in 1956, the growing Nation of Islam movement in the 1960s, and the assassination of Martin Luther King. In his spare time, Parks also directed a few films.