The year 2012 marks the centennial of Gordon Parks’ birth. In a window of the International Center of Photography at the corner of 43rd and Sixth Avenue in New York City, a silent tribute to Parks runs continuously for the edification and joy of those who pass by.
Could that young boy born on Nov. 30, 1912, in Fort Scott, Kan., ever have imagined that in celebration of his birth a select group of his photographs, along with his words about growing up in Kansas, would be displayed to the multitudes who pass by this busy corner, 24 hours a day?
Somehow, I believe his mother, Sarah Parks, did envision greatness for her son. After all, it was she who inspired and encouraged young Gordon to use his early years in Kansas as a learning tree, a place and time for deep revelations about life and a metaphor he later used for his autobiographical novel.
Through the years, there have been many connections between Wichita State and Gordon Parks. He was an artist-in-residence at the Ulrich Museum of Art in February 1978, when his poetry and photography from Moments Without Proper Names were featured in an exhibition here.
During discussions with students, he acknowledged the strength of his mother and summarized his life philosophy: “If you’re lucky enough to have a mother who placed love, dignity and hard work over hatred, and then ten times lucky so that you somehow make it, you can have a lifetime of things to say, to see, to feel.”
In 1983, WSU published The Photographs of Gordon Parks by Martin Bush, then director of the Ulrich Museum. In 1991, the university awarded Parks the prestigious President’s Medal. In 1999, Half Past Autumn, the major touring retrospective exhibition of the works of Parks’ celebrated career, opened at the Ulrich and ran through the summer, drawing record crowds.
In celebration of that exhibition and the museum’s 25th anniversary, the Ulrich acquired four of his photographs, which were unveiled in the presence of the artist to patrons and friends in April 2000. The photographs acquired are from the 1940s-60s and reflect his concern with social issues of his time.
The many connections between Parks and Kansas and Wichita State generated a deep passion to continue, promote and enhance his legacy. This passion led to WSU’s effort to become the home of his collected papers. On Nov. 30, 2007, a proposal was made to the Gordon Parks Foundation, whose board of directors accepted it.
In February 2008, a moving van delivered more than 130 boxes and crates containing most of the contents of Parks’ New York apartment. The story of how those papers came to WSU is beautifully told in Roots and Branches: Preserving the Legacy of Gordon Parks, a film produced by the university’s Media Resources Center.
The book Gordon Parks Centennial: His Legacy at Wichita State University, which was printed this October, is another important part of WSU’s efforts to honor Parks and keep his memory alive and his legacy shining ever more brightly.
Parks overcame the bleakness and hardships of a rural childhood and fought his way through the violent streets of urban ghettos. He will rightfully be remembered as a photographer (in particular, the first black photographer for Life magazine) who chose to use his camera to fight ignorance, racism and discrimination.
His life was filled with “firsts”: achievements that are significant regardless of race, but that take on added luster given the challenges of the times in which he lived. He was an author, poet, screenwriter, producer, director, composer, humanitarian, civil rights activist and a friend of celebrities such as Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Duke Ellington, Arthur Ashe, Ingrid Bergman and Gloria Vanderbilt.
All the while he never forgot his Kansas roots, which grew so deep into the prairie soil that, in the end, he chose to be buried in Fort Scott.
Many individuals have contributed to maintaining and strengthening the bridge between Kansas, WSU and Gordon Parks. Mark McCormick, Pete Armstrong and Don Beggs originally planted the seeds that culminated in the university’s harvest of the collected papers, and the generosity of Pete and Mickey Armstrong, Fran and Geri Jabara, and Velma Lunt Wallace added significant financial gravitas to the university’s proposal.
So many other individuals have been – and remain – critical in this enterprise, but my final acknowledgment here goes to Patricia McDonnell, the immediate past director of the Ulrich Museum, who from her first day on campus has been a champion in the Parks initiative.
Her artistic acumen has generated much enthusiasm and excitement, including recommending the acquisition, to date, of 25 additional photographs. These photographs serve as tangible landmarks of Parks’ life and photographic career as he traveled and told his visual story around the globe, while always remaining centered in the Midwest, with the wisdom of Andrew and Sarah Parks coursing through his veins.
Anyone who knew Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks could see that he never shook the dust of the Kansas prairie from his soul. Wichita State University needs and wants to be part of any effort to preserve his legacy.
