Picture Day

Gordon Parks —Picture Day:

Outside Looking In, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Originally published in Life Magazine 1956

"I chose my camera as a weapon against all the things I dislike about America--poverty, racism, discrimination" Gordon Parks.

Gordon Parks sought to have the viewer become emotionally involved in this powerful image. And he was immensely successful, in my case. These victims of segregation are mere children who did nothing to warrant the exclusion, the hate or sorrow; all they did was to be born Black.

The barrier between white and black children exists not only by the fence but in everyday encounters. The children's body language suggests a close bond between them.

The white children have a well-maintained park with a Ferris wheel, while the Black children stand in weeds, noses pressed to the fence. The Black children are well groomed and beautiful and are nonetheless being denied access. They are being prevented from entering a park that is not being used.