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Gordon Parks at 86
By Besse Bentley Daniels
I grew up in the small Southern city of
Augustain a section called the Sandhill. Beau
tiful azaleas, mimosa and pussy willow were
abundant in that part of Georgia. The sweet
smell of honeysuckle filled the air — a smell
that evokes dreams. This paradise often al
lowed dreamers to dream. I was a dreamer. I
wanted to travel and meet exciting people. I
knew that with my limited resources none of
this was possible.
Amazingly fate has been kind to me. Re
cently I had the pleasure of visiting the exhi
bition “Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon
Parks” at the Museum of the City of New York.
After viewing his life’s work, I watched a video
about his life. I was so deeply moved by both
experiences that I asked a friend who knew
him well to arrange an interview for me. To
my astonishment he granted me an hour meet
ing. The hour meeting turned into three
hours. I was ecstatic following the meeting. I
had finally met an individual who I had long
admired. I now have a wonderful story to
share with my grandchildren. On the train
ride home, I wrote these words:
Ode to a Master
As Autumn meets Gordon
The physical years fall
like drifting October leaves
away from the advancing artist
His mind is quick and alert as a youthful
stallion
His moves as graceful as the voice of Sarah
Vaughn
(He loves “the Divine One”)
Calm, patient, growing mentally and spiri
tually
Little time for himself
The creative genius still flowing
(He'’s working on two movies)
Procrastinate — never
Thoughts of his children, grandchildren
and great grandchildren excite him
(He beamed about his rainbow tribe)
Living on the 10th floor is apropos
He is indeed a talented “10”
(I told him, You're really a “40!”)
As one listens to the low melodic voice
which is filled with wisdem
It mesmerizes and one wants to stay
At Autumn Gordon does not see shallow
Kind, gentle, thoughtful
Life and life served him well
(He broke down race barriers
Is that a fact?
BEighty-eight percent of Af
rican Americans, ages 25 to 29,
were high school graduates in
1998, continuing an upward
trendin theeducational attain
mentof African Americansthat
began in 1940. As a result of
thistrend, thegapin highschool
completion between African
Americans and whites nar
rowed in the 25 to 29 year old
age group over the past decade
Qfi #
/ e
. i
&
Gordon
Parks,
, 1990
; P
v r;f’ -
when he joined the staff
of Life magazine in 1948)
A genius at work
Sitting down at the piano
He played one of his own compositions.
“Don’t Misunderstand,”
and I sang along
I finally met my mentor
I finally met my hero
An African American
An American hero
A MAN
Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks
Bringing together for the first time Gordon
Parks’ achievements as a filmmaker, novelist,
poet, musician, photographer and dedicated
humanist, “Half Past Autumn: The Art of
Gordon Parks will travel through 2000. The
exhibition was organized by the Corcoran
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and co
curated by Philip Brookman of the Corcoran
and Deborah Willis of the Center for African-
American History and Culture, Smithsonian
Institution.
The exhibition presents more than 200 pho
tographs, with significant works from each of
Parks’ major series from 1940 through 1997,
including color photographs, music and po
ems. Theresultis, in the artist’s words, a tone
poem that impressionistically tells his own
story.
1999 travel schedule: Detroit Institute of
Arts (February 7 - April 25); Edwin A. Ulrich
Museum of Art, Wichita, Kan. (May 24 - Au
gust 9); Norton Museum of Art, West Palm
Beach, Fla. (October - December).
tothe point where therewas no
the two racial groups in 1998,
®Nearly three million or 16
percent of African Americans,
ages 25 and over, held a
bachelor’s degree or higher in
1998; of these degree holders,
more than 800,000 had an ad
vanced degree (e.g., master’s,
Ph.D., M.D. or J.D.).
BThe number of African
Americans under 35 who were
enrolled in college in 1996 (1.5
million) was nearly 40 percent
higher than the number en
rolled a decade earlier. Simi
larly, African-American nurs
ery school enrollment doubled
over the same period, to
702,000.
@African-American house
holds experienced an increase
of 4.3 percent in real median
income between 1996 and
1997, from $24,021 to $25,050.
In the past three years (1995-
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Micheaux
From page 5
But a number of basic prob
lems plagues this burgeoning
industry: financing, distribu
tion, promotion. When talk
ing movies came into vogue,
many companies lacked the
capital to keep up production
and to acquire the new sound
equipment. Micheaux, crafty
as ever, was one of the few
black directors who managed
to make the transition from
silent to sound cinema. In
1931, hereleased — with some
fanfare —the first black talk
ing film, The Exile, which had
a splashy opening in Harlem
that the black press was eager
to publicize.
Aheadlinein The Pittsburgh
Courier proclaimed: “Oscar
Micheaux’ First Big Venture
in Dramatic Talking Field Ac
claimed in New York by Large
Crowd — Cast Scores.” The
T
» ‘_‘\: » " ; -:Mww
% ) @ LR
o ) ‘-
The black movie essays by Donald Bogan
first appeared in A Separate Cinema:
Years of Biack Cast Posters By !m’
and Edward Mapp published "’:‘" Kisch
3 g .
1997), median-income levels of
African-American households
achieved or surpassed their
1989 pre-recessionary peak lev
els.
@ African Americans ac
counted for 60 percent of the:
decline in the number of poor
persons in the United States
between 1996 and 1997. Simi
larly, about 400,000 fewer fami
‘lies were poor in 1997 than in
1996 and more than half of
them were African-American
families.
FEBRUARY 18, 1999
article reported:
The Exile, billed as the
first all-Negro talking pic
ture by a picked cast of
. performers, telling a story
of Negro life in an inti
mate way by a Negro au
thor, gotitsfirst screening
at the Lafayette Theatre,
Saturday afternoon, and
was greeted by more than
an overflow audience that
had waited more than six
months to see just what
appeal the picture had for
a Metropolitan audience.
In this picture, they got an
eye full [sic], for The Exile
carries everything that a
modern picture should
have to hold the interest.
There is a nice plot, a love
story as gripping as it pos
sibly can be and the por
trayal of Negro life in a
city that no one but a Ne
gro, who has traveled and
lived in cities, could tell.
Besides, there are those
real actors, used for the
first time on the screen,
who do an excellent job
before the strong light.
- WThe nation’s African-Ameri
can population totaled an esti-
I’m:hh’.. »;“u 13.
“ ®WThe nation’s ‘African-
American population is young,
of 30 years as of Nov. 1,1998 —
fiveyearsyounger than the me
dian age for the U.S. popula
tion as a whole. _
11D