Lesson 6

Lesson Goals

Texts

Optional

• • “7 Gordon Parks Images That Changed American Attitudes,” Rebecca Fulleylove, Google Arts and Culture
  • “Same Date, 8 Years Apart: From Emmett Till’s Murder to ‘I Have a Dream,’ in Photos,” Madison Horne, History.com, 2021
  • “Segregation in the South, 1956,” Gordon Parks, Gordon Parks Foundation

Materials

Tools

• Photojournalism: Civil Rights Photojournalists Handout

Question Sets

• Photojournalism: Section 3 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Photojournalism: Section 3 Question Set

Activity 1: View – Discuss

We will view images from civil rights-era photojournalists.

Step 1

In light of what you are learning about photojournalism and its impact on public opinion in both the Depression and the Civil Rights Movement, access an iconic photograph by FSA photographer Gordon Parks titled American Gothic. You can examine this image through a Google Arts and Culture feature titled “7 Gordon Parks Images That Changed American Attitudes.”

As a class, make a list of details in the photograph that stand out to you. Discuss what it makes you think about.

Read the short informational paragraphs below the photograph to learn about Gordon Parks, his work for Roy Stryker and the FSA, and his later photographs of segregation in the South during the 1950s.

Note the ironic and intentional connection to the 1930 painting by Grant Wood of the same title (which you can access through the link below the photograph).

Step 2

View a gallery of Parks’ later 1956 “Segregation in the South” photos from Alabama, located on the Gordon Parks Foundation website. In the “Artworks” gallery, you will find two famous Parks photos titled Outside Looking In and Segregated Drinking Fountain.

Discuss what the photographs represent and your reactions to them.

Step 3

As directed by your teacher, review other images of the Civil Rights Movement taken by significant photojournalists in the 1960s.

You might do so through a list of photojournalists and photographs available on the Civil Rights Photojournalists Handout or through a gallery of signficant events and photographs in an online History.com article titled “Same Date, 8 Years Apart: From Emmett Till’s Murder to ‘I Have a Dream’ in Photos.”

Note that further studying the photojournalism of Charles Moore, Flip Schulke, or Gordon Parks are options available to you.

As the class reviews the striking images and the events they chronicled, be looking for a photojournalist, photograph, or historical event you would like to learn more about.

With a partner, discuss options for extended research you might pursue during this lesson.

Activity 2: View – Write

We will identify a civil rights photojournalist, iconic photograph, or event that we want to learn more about through primary and secondary source research.

Step 1

Identify a civil rights photojournalist, iconic photograph, or event that you want to learn more about through primary and secondary source research.

Begin your research with a primary source photograph that depicts an important event or person in the Civil Rights Movement. Using a Visual Analysis Tool, examine your photograph closely considering the following questions:

1. In what ways do the images and details of the photograph highlight a significant moment or figure in civil rights history?

2. What responses does the photograph evoke in you as a viewer? How might viewers in the 1960s have responded?

Step 2

With your discussion partner from the previous activity, share what you have observed about your photograph in response to the two questions.

Activity 3: Read

We will conduct further secondary source research to learn more about the photograph we have selected, the photojournalist who took it, and/Or the event or person it documented.

As directed by your teacher, conduct an online search, either through suggested resources on the Civil Rights Photojournalists to Study Handout or through keyword searches involving the photo’s title, photojournalist’s name, or event identifier.

As you find additional information, take and make notes using a two-column format, as described and shown in the Annotating and Note-Taking Reference Guide.

Activity 4: Write – Present

We will present our analysis and research through a classroom gallery representation that includes a dated photograph and an expository paragraph which explains what we have learned about the photo, photojournalist, and event or person depicted.

Using the Google Arts and Culture Gordon Parks feature as a model, prepare a poster or digital document that does the following:

• presents the title and date of the photograph you have examined closely

• includes an image of the photograph

• presents a short 1-2 paragraph explanation of what you have learned about the photo, photojournalist, and event or person depicted

• (optional) includes additional images related to the photo, photojournalist, or event/person

Activity 5: Discuss

As a class, we will review our visual representations and discuss what we have additionally learned about the impact of photographs and photojournalists on the events and key figures of the civil rights movement and public responses to them.

Step 1

As directed by your teacher, share the posters or digital documents that you have developed, either through a classroom gallery review or small-group peer-review discussions.

Step 2

Conduct a closing class discussion about photojournalism and its impact on civil rights history, adding what you have learned about other photojournalists, iconic photographs, and events to what you previously learned about Charles Moore, Birmingham, Alabama, and the ideas of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Use the following guiding question to organize your discussion:

1. How did American photojournalists document and influence significant events in civil rights history?