Innovation

Gordon Parks: Inequality Illuminator

February 2012

“The subject matter is so much more important than the photographer.”

— Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks, a largely self-taught photographer, musician, novelist and film director, is best remembered for his photo essays that chronicled the African-American experience.

Born in Fort Scott, Kan., and raised in a segregated school system, Parks experienced racism at an early age. When he moved to Chicago, he aimed to become a freelance photographer and share some of the injustice he experienced.

Parks combined a devotion to documentary realism with a knack for making his own feelings self-evident. The style he favored was derived from the Depression-era photography project of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), which he joined on a fellowship at the age of 30.

His most famous photo is from 1942, “American Gothic.” The photo shows a black woman, Ella Watson, who worked on the cleaning crew for the FSA building, standing stiffly in front of an American flag, a broom in one hand and a mop in the background. Parks had been inspired to create the picture after being repeatedly denied service that very day in Washington, D.C., shops.

After the FSA disbanded, Parks became Life magazine’s first African-American staff photographer. He worked there for more than 20 years, specializing in subjects relating to racism, poverty and black urban life. Parks also dabbled in film and music. He performed as a jazz pianist and even directed the 1971 film “Shaft,” as well as its sequel.

Parks died of cancer at the age of 93.

Margaret Bourke-White: People’s Photographer

January 2012

“It is my firm belief that democracy will not lose hold as long as people really know what is going on, and the photographer has a very valuable part to do in showing what is going on.”

– Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White was a renowned photojournalist with a deep commitment to civil and political rights. Her work captured the poverty and discrimination of the South in the 1930s and the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust.

Bourke-White became Fortune magazine’s first photographer in 1929 when she documented the working conditions in Stalin’s Soviet Union. Six years later, she joined Life magazine, and her photo of the Fort Peck Dam graced the cover of the very first issue.

She is perhaps best known for her photos of foot soldiers, generals and the destruction resulting from World War II. Accompanying the U.S. troops that liberated Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, she snapped some of the most difficult photos of her career. Her documentation of the atrocities of the Nazi regime gave Americans a look into the scale of human suffering that WWII caused.

After witnessing the horrors of war, Bourke-White focused much of her work on humanitarian issues. She covered Gandhi’s nonviolent independence campaign in India. In fact, she photographed him just hours before he was assassinated. Her coverage of African mine workers and apartheid in South Africa led one associate at Life to say, “Margaret Bourke-White’s social awareness was clear and obvious. All the editors at the magazine were aware of her commitment to social causes.”

Bourke-White developed Parkinson’s disease in 1956 and spent the rest of her life taking photographs and writing her autobiography. She died in 1971 at the age of 67.

Cleveland Amory: Animal Ally

December 2011

“As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.”

― Cleveland Amory

Cleveland Amory was a best-selling author, critic and devoted animal rights advocate.

Amory was born in Boston on Sept. 7, 1917. Upon graduating from Harvard, he pursued a career as a newspaper reporter before becoming the youngest-ever editor of The Saturday Evening Post. Amory rose to literary prominence with the publication of The Proper Bostonians in 1947, a critically acclaimed, lighthearted critique of elite Boston society. He followed with two other nonfiction works and later served as a commentator for NBC’s “Today” show and a critic for TV Guide.

In addition to his esteemed literary career, Amory was a passionate animal rights activist. He founded The Fund for Animals in 1967, and his courage, sense of humor and eloquence as the organization’s leader allowed for the expansion of the animal rights movement. He orchestrated a number of highly publicized activities against animal cruelty, including airlifting 575 unwanted burros out of the Grand Canyon and rescuing baby harp seals in the Magdalene Islands.

He wrote three children’s books — The Cat Who Came for Christmas (1988), The Cat and the Curmudgeon (1990) and The Best Cat Ever (1993) — about his cat named Polar Bear, who he rescued from an alley on Christmas Eve.

Amory died on Oct. 14, 1998. He is buried on the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas with his beloved cat, Polar Bear. Run by the Humane Society of the United States, the ranch carries on Amory’s legacy by providing a safe and loving home for abused and neglected animals from across the country.

Wilma Mankiller: Champion Chief

November 2011

“I believe in the old Cherokee injunction to ‘be of a good mind.’ Today it’s called positive thinking.”

― Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller was the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, the second largest tribal nation in the U.S. She is remembered as a champion for tribal community development and the security of the Cherokee people.

In the 1970s, Mankiller began working for the Cherokee Nation and learned how to establish much-needed health and education programs in her community. Despite extreme opposition and even death threats, she persevered to become the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1985, a position she held for a decade. Her leadership helped to double employment and build new housing, health centers and children’s programs in northeast Oklahoma, where most of the 200,000 or so tribal members live. In 1990, she persuaded the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs to sign an unprecedented agreement to surrender direct control over millions of dollars in federal funding to the Cherokee Nation.

For her hard work and dedication, Mankiller was honored as Ms. Magazine’s Woman of the Year in 1987, and President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998.

Gloria Anzaldúa: Radical Woman of Color

October 2011

“I change myself, I change the world.”

― Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Anzaldúa was a renowned author and thought leader in the field of cultural theory and an important contributor to the culturally competent approach to modern communications.

Born in southern Texas in 1946, Anzaldúa was a migrant farm worker throughout high school and college, allowing her to support her family and fund her education. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Pan American University and a master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where she worked primarily with children who were bilingual or had special needs.

The publication of This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color in 1981, co-edited by Anzaldúa, challenged traditional feminism by describing the unique experiences of women of color. It went on to win the American Book Award in 1986.

Anzaldúa’s semi-autobiographical book, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, was a platform for her progressive thoughts on cultural awareness and acceptance. In it, she introduced the term “mestizaje,” now commonly used in academia to express the understanding between culture and identity. Borderlands is also recognized for the ground-breaking way in which Anzaldúa weaved together eight variations of English and Spanish to cross linguistic borders and further communicate about social divisions.

Anzaldúa’s body of work includes children’s books, fiction, and poetry. She died in 2004 due to complications from diabetes, but her work has inspired others to journey toward a more inclusive world.