Annotated Bibliography #2

Black Children with White Doll

Gordon Parks, 1942

Observation

In this photo I see two black children sitting on the ground, crouched against a wall. In the middle of the children is a fair-skinned doll. One older looking female and one younger male, both children are wearing minimal clothing and barefoot. The female is looking directly at the camera, forcibly smiling, with her arm around the white doll. The younger looking boy in the picture is looking toward the ground, appearing to be rather sad. The white skinned doll is wearing a white dress and has one shoe on. The wall they are sitting against appears to be tattered and weathered. The floor also does not seem to be in good condition.

Inference

Upon researching Gordon Parks I have found that he was an incredibly passionate man. He was multitalented and seemed to have accomplished many things in different areas of the arts. However, while Parks was incredibly talented as a photographer, writer, painter, musical composer, journalist, filmmaker and poet, his biggest label always appeared to rest on his race when it came to the critique of others. He faced a lot of personal adversity while growing up as an African American. As he was growing up he was told by a white teacher of his that furthering his education wasn't even worth his time because no matter what he would end up as a servant to whites. This was a turning point in Parks' life, as he credits this woman for much of his success for "pushing" him to prove her wrong. Parks continued to photograph a diverse variety of people, focusing mostly on the daily struggles of the African American community, particularly in low-income areas.

I found this photo to be incredibly interesting because it says so much in such a simple composition. African Americans in history have dealt with one major, singular problem in society - their physical appearance. In the novel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (an African American woman), this is a common theme. Within this novel Morrison discusses the idea of "white baby dolls" in great detail, through the mind of protagonist, a young, black girl named Claudia MacTeer, living in the 1940s. She presents the irrational, distorted idea of baby dolls by stating,

               "I had only one desire: to dismember it. To see of what it was made, to discover the                              dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, and apparently only me.                    Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs - all the world had agreed                  that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned was what every girl child treasured. 'Here,'                      they said, 'this is beautiful, and if you are on this day 'worthy' you may have it.' "
               (Morrison 20)

This quote relates to Gordon Parks' photograph perfectly. I believe that in this photograph Parks was attempting to bring to light the same question that Claudia is plagued with; why is white inherently seen as beautiful? By photographing two young children with a "beautiful" white doll Parks is posing the same question. The young girl smiling could possibly speak to the fact that this "beautiful whiteness" is something to be treasured. As Morrison would say, perhaps this young girls large smile depicts her happiness at the fact that she is "worthy" to behold such beauty.

The unkempt condition of the doll depicts something much more chilling. The doll looks rather creepy to me. I think that this points to the evil behind the apparent "beauty" of the white community. While white supremacist Americans held themselves to the highest possible standard of physical beauty, a much deeper evil seemed to lie beneath their physical appearance.

Gordon Parks was an incredibly intelligent, educated man, capable of creating a simple image, that tells you something incredibly complex. I believe that this single photograph touches on every aspect of the African American struggle of physical beauty.


Citations

Burrows, Barbara Baker. "Remembering Gordon Parks (1912–2006)."American Art AM ART J 20.3 (2006): 118-21. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 14 Sept. 2015. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/511098 
.>.

Mitchell, Kristina E., Amanda Martin-Hamon, and Elissa Anderson. "Instructional Resources:A Choice of Weapons: Photographs of Gordon Parks." Art Education 55.2 (2002): 25. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 14 Sept. 2015. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193987>.

Morrison, Toni. Autumn. The Bluest Eye. New York: Plume Book, 1994. 20-21. Print.

Moskowitz, Milton. "Gordon Parks: A Man for All Seasons." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 40 (2003): 102. Web. 14 Sept. 2015. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3134060>.