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Red Jackson, Harlem, New York, By Gordon Parks Essay

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I selected by Gordon Parks entitled, Red Jackson, Harlem, New York, it was taken in 1948. Gordon Parks, born November 30, 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas. He happened to be the youngest of fifteen children born to Andrew and Sarah Parks. His mother taught him the virtues of hard work, dignity, and love, which led to his success. He became a filmmaker, a writer, and a composer, although he utilized a camera as his weapon of choice. The point that I found extremely interesting regarding Gordon Parks remains that not only was he multi-talented, but I feel like his struggles in his early life gave him the empathy needed to capture the struggles of others, in a way that make us look past the labels that society put on people.
Gordon Parks, a black man, who lived during the great depression, worked odd jobs, and understood the struggles of poverty. After his mother passed away in 1928, Gordon was sent to live with his sister and brother in-law in St. Paul Minnesota. After a disagreement with this brother in-law he was not welcome in their home. At just fifteen years old, Gordon found himself homeless. I feel like Gordon could identify with a lot of the people he photographed. If his mother had not instilled him with integrity, and had not found and honed his talent. He could have ended up like several of the people he photographed. Finally, in 1938 during a layover in Seattle, Washington, Gordon had an impulse to buy a camera. When he brought the film in to be developed, the clerk

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