Gordon Parks' Segregation Story

from The Restraints: Open and Hidden 
Gordon Parks 
Shady Grove & Mobile Alabama 1956

These are a handful of the photographs that have been shown extensively the last few years under the title: the Segregation Story, but some of them were originally displayed in the pages of LIFE magazine in the photo essay referenced above.  Parks wasn’t from Alabama.  He grew up in Kansas, also very much under segregation and eventually he would return there to document its persistence well beyond its supposed end.  It would be a mistake, however, to view these only as social documents, and this goes far beyond an appreciation of their formal perfections.  I think that they reflect a depth of experience few photographer could claim.