Diary of a Harlem Family, 1967/1968

On 8 March 1968, Life magazine published A Harlem Family by Gordon Parks, a searing portrait of poverty in the United States, told through images and text about a single family residing in Harlem, the Fontenelles. On the twentieth anniversary of The Gordon Parks Foundation, this new, expanded study considers this story as a pivotal moment in Parks' life, and one that launched his career in film. Since the publication in 2012 of a book devoted to Parks' photo essay, additional images belonging to the series have been discovered, and research has been conducted on the accompanying film, Diary of a Harlem Family (1968). The present volume tells the story of Parks' project through this updated lens. This material is accompanied by previously unpublished texts and ephemera related to the project, including correspondence and other documents Parks amassed over the years while he kept in touch with the Fontenelles, letters written by Life readers showing an outpouring of support for the family, and the transcript of a conversation between Parks and Michael Torosian about the making of the story. Essays by Studio Museum of Harlem director and chief curator Thelma Golden, Oscar-winning author Cord Jefferson, and noted scholars Leigh Raiford and Michael Boyce Gillespie offer enlightening commentary on this seminal body of work. Co-published with The Gordon Parks Foundation

Autorentext
Gordon Parks (19122006) was one of the twentieth century's preeminent American photographers. From the 1940s through the dawn of the twenty-first century, he created work that focused on social justice, race relations, the civil rights movement and the African American experience. Born into poverty and segregation in Fort Scott, Kansas, Parks won a Julius Rosenwald Fund fellowship in 1942 and went on to do groundbreaking work for the Farm Security Administration and magazines such as Ebony, Vogue and Life, where he was a staff photographer for more than two decades. Beyond his work in photography, Parks was a respected film director, composer, memoirist, novelist and poet, who left behind an exceptional body of work that is a powerful record and interpretation of American life and culture.

Klappentext

On 8 March 1968, Life magazine published "A Harlem Family" by Gordon Parks, a searing portrait of poverty in the United States, told through images and text about a single family residing in Harlem, the Fontenelles. On the twentieth anniversary of The Gordon Parks Foundation, this new, expanded study considers this story as a pivotal moment in Parks' life, and one that launched his career in film. Since the publication in 2012 of a book devoted to Parks' photo essay, additional images belonging to the series have been discovered, and research has been conducted on the accompanying film, Diary of a Harlem Family (1968). The present volume tells the story of Parks' project through this updated lens. This material is accompanied by previously unpublished texts and ephemera related to the project, including correspondence and other documents Parks amassed over the years while he kept in touch with the Fontenelles, letters written by Life readers showing an outpouring of support for the family, and the transcript of a conversation between Parks and Michael Torosian about the making of the story. Essays by Studio Museum of Harlem director and chief curator Thelma Golden, Oscar-winning author Cord Jefferson, and noted scholars Leigh Raiford and Michael Boyce Gillespie offer enlightening commentary on this seminal body of work. Co-published with The Gordon Parks Foundation