{"id":23732,"date":"2016-01-19T12:12:24","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T18:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=23732"},"modified":"2016-01-19T14:29:39","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T20:29:39","slug":"the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jim Crow South: Gordon Parks photo series on exhibit"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carlos D. Williamson<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a film director, the late Gordon Parks gave African-Americans empowering images\u00a0 in the 1970s with the blaxploitation hit \u201cShaft.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Parks took a different approach with his photography and challenged bigots to second-guess the impact of segregation in the Jim Crow South, said Rhona Hoffman, director and owner of a North Side art gallery.
\n<\/p>\n

Parks\u2019 \u201cSegregation Story,\u201d a series of photographs that was first published in Life<\/em> magazine in 1956, is now on display at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery. <\/a>The photos helped Parks\u2019 career flourish during the Civil Rights Movement and are on display until Feb. 20.<\/p>\n

When Parks\u2019 series was published, it was controversial because it forced people to view segregation and racial inequality from a different perspective, as it was largely meant to educate and not reprimand, Hoffman said. Parks, who died in 2006, is best known for his iconic photography of black Americans but was also a musician and writer.<\/p>\n

Hoffman said her goal is for people to visit the exhibition so they can gain a clear understanding of what poverty was like in the rural South for black Americans in the \u201850s and \u201860s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still going on now,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cIt\u2019s just different. People have a little more money. There\u2019s still segregation. Chicago is one of the most segregated cities in the world.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have it all over the country. The South still has segregation,” she added.” But it\u2019s not in the same way. People can go to school, and their lifestyle is a little better, but they still live on the wrong side of the tracks. It\u2019s not over. The fight for equality is not over.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Parks\u2019 photographs in the exhibit, titled \u201cOutside Looking in,\u201d perfectly supports her point.<\/p>\n

In the photo, six black children face a chain-link fence, peering at\u00a0 a park on the opposite side. Two of them clutch the gate, hoping to gain access. But because of segregation, they can’t–they all simply stare at the well-tended park and its white occupants.<\/p>\n

Documentary work<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., executive director of The Gordon Parks Foundation, said Parks\u2019 \u201cSegregation Story\u201d is an authentic work of art because \u201cit is a documentary, showing real people going about their everyday lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parks\u2019 photograph, \u201cMother and Children,\u201d illustrates that point, depicting a black mother standing on the porch of her wooden shack in Mobile, Alabama, with her three shoeless children surrounding her. The unkempt lawn is strewn with scraps of tin and aluminum.<\/p>\n

The picture conveys the impoverished and segregated reality of black family life in the rural south at the time.<\/p>\n

While Hoffman said things have improved for African-Americans since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, she added that more needs to be done to help minorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way to not prevent black people from doing certain things,\u201d she said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t come far enough. It\u2019s been a long slog. And until there is no segregation, it\u2019s pertinent to show things like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman also said that while the exhibition won\u2019t necessarily curtail bigotry, she still intends to provide people with a more balanced perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are a racist, or have racist tendencies, maybe you\u2019ll change your mind by looking at it by seeing the repercussions of such atrocities, to deny people the freedom that they\u2019re entitled to,\u201d Hoffman said.<\/p>\n

Another exhibit of Parks\u2019 work will open at the Art Institute of Chicago in May.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Gordon Parks\u2019 \u201cOutside Looking in,\u201d which was published in Life magazine in 1956, is among 15 images from Parks\u2019 \u201cSegregation Story\u201d on exhibit at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery through Feb. 20. (Carlos D. Williamson\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carlos D. Williamson As a film director, the late Gordon Parks gave African-Americans empowering images\u00a0 in the 1970s with the blaxploitation hit \u201cShaft.\u201d But Parks took a different approach with his photography and challenged bigots to second-guess the impact of segregation in the Jim Crow South, said Rhona Hoffman, director and owner of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":23816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,585],"tags":[665,667,666,668,625],"class_list":["post-23732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-winter-2016","tag-arts-and-culture","tag-carlos-d-williamson","tag-gordon-parks","tag-life-magazine","tag-social-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Jim Crow South: Gordon Parks photo series on exhibit - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Jim Crow South: Gordon Parks photo series on exhibit - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Carlos D. Williamson As a film director, the late Gordon Parks gave African-Americans empowering images\u00a0 in the 1970s with the blaxploitation hit \u201cShaft.\u201d But Parks took a different approach with his photography and challenged bigots to second-guess the impact of segregation in the Jim Crow South, said Rhona Hoffman, director and owner of a […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-19T18:12:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-19T20:29:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Revised.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"583\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"carloswilliamson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"carloswilliamson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/\",\"name\":\"The Jim Crow South: Gordon Parks photo series on exhibit - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Revised.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-19T18:12:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-19T20:29:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/c74e799171efdd5c0f5742246bd2f2ce\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/the-jim-crow-south-gordon-parks-photo-series-on-exhibit\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Revised.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Revised.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":583,\"caption\":\"Gordon Parks\u2019 \u201cOutside Looking in,\u201d which was published in Life magazine in 1956, is among 15 images from Parks\u2019 \u201cSegregation Story\u201d on exhibit at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery through Feb. 20. 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