Sandra K. Friday
Unlike the Ella Watson photo essay, and those of the 332nd Fighter Pilots in training and the Black Panthers, with whom Parks stayed for three weeks, some of his photos were taken on the spur of the moment, "Drinking Fountains in Birmingham," 1956, (
HPA
, p.175), seems to be one of these taken from the window of a car, the window frame making up the lower left corner of the photo. And while it's just an ordinary Dairy Queen in Birmingham with posters plastered on the plate glass window advertising butter pecan and butterscotch sundaes, foot-long hot dogs, and banana splits, it is the bold face letters, COLORED ONLY, displayed on the front of a water fountain where a black woman in a white party dress is drinking in the center of the lens that rivets my attention. Next, almost simultaneously, my eyes take in her young daughter with her back to me, in a flouncy, gauze, white or pastel party dress and a bow in her hair. She may be standing at a take-out window just out of sight of the lens. And then I spy, partly hidden behind the woman's skirt the bold face letters, WHITE ONLY, prominently placed on the front of the
other
fountain.
The
composition
,
props
,
significance of proximity
of people to items,
historical time,
etc., even the irony in a mother and her child "dressed to the nines" coming, as anyone would, to enjoy an ice cream sundae, and being blatantly and obviously systematically discriminated against - - all this makes me think back to my discussion of the innocence assumed and the irony found in the photo "Children with a Doll."
"Black Muslim Schoolchildren," 1963
In the late '50's scenes like the one in Birmingham fanned the flames of the Muslim Movement that promoted education as the means to independence and success in pursuit of being a true follower of Allah. Boys and girls were educated separately. Also, segregation was self-imposed by black Muslims who believed it was the only way for them to succeed in this racist society.
Parks' photo, "Black Muslim Schoolchildren," 1963, (
HPA
, p. 246), masterfully frames eager young boys dressed in suits, dress shoes, white shirts and ties, carrying books and school supplies, looking up to an adult, probably their teacher, who seems to be greeting them and keeping them in order. The lens and consequently the viewer is located to the side and behind the teacher whose body, dressed in slacks and a sports jacket, takes up the left one-third of the photo while his arm sweeps across the top. The children appear as little ducklings, hovering under the protective wing of father duck.
The youngest boy, perhaps five, front and center, and flanked by six slightly older boys, stands out because he is wearing a light-colored suit and bow tie; he is craning his neck to look up into his teacher's face, and he is carrying a briefcase half his size that may as well have "education," "education," "education" written all over it. As an educator, I can't help wondering what has become of the boys in this photo who are now about fifty.
In
proximity
to one another, the boys are snuggly bunched as ducklings under wing. This could be seen as a reflection of the Muslim religion that protects, frames, and structures the experience of its children, bringing them close together, a contrast with
"
Children with Doll" and with the next photo, "Norman Jr. Reading in Bed." One detail that I noticed after I had been looking quite a while is that one of the boys standing behind the youngest has his hand on the youngest boy's shoulder. I will want to know from my students the significance of this.