Famous photojournalist wins prestigious award

By By DeJuan Atway

Friday, February 10, 2006

The first African-American photographer for Life magazine will be awarded the 2006 William Allen White Foundation National Citation award.

Gordon Parks, a distinguished author, poet, photojournalist and filmmaker, will be honored at a ceremony will be 1:30 p.m., today at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.

Parks, 93, isn’t able to attend the event because of health. Footage of Parks accepting the award in December 2005 from Ann Brill, dean of the School of Journalism, will be shown at the ceremony.

Brill said that Parks had overcame much adversity in his life and that he showed people how to move forward when outside forces hold them back. He also excelled at what he did.

“Mr. Parks is an excellent story teller,” Brill said. “He is one of the most gifted storytellers of all time.”

The ceremony is free to the public.

Parks was born in 1912 in Fort Scott. He garnered national fame for becoming the first African-American photographer to work at the magazines Life and Vogue. Parks started off as a fashion photographer at Life, but became a significant photographer for the magazine during the Civil Rights Movement. He photographed many of the most notable African-American leaders of the time, including Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

His first novel, “The Learning Tree,” was published in 1963 and transformed into a movie with the same title. Parks also experienced success directing the first two of the three 70’s “Shaft” movies.

In 2002 Parks was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame. Parks has a photography display in the Spencer Museum of Art through March 19.

Rich Clarkson, a photojournalist and KU alumnus, will be speaking at the ceremony. He said Parks was a charismatic man who still cared deeply about his home state.

“He loves Kansas,” Clarkson said. “If you mention Kansas you have got Gordon for the next hour,”

— Edited by John Jordan

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