Art

feature: the mystery woman of gordon parks’ famous photograph

January 12, 2015

LENS – the photojournalism blog of The New York Times – is currently searching for the African-American woman in the iconic Gordon Parks photo, above. The blog writes: “The image is striking: a stone-faced African American woman in a spotless maid’s uniform cradles a white toddler while a stylishly dressed white woman sits nearby. Gordon Parks took the picture at the Atlanta airport in the spring of 1956. This photo raises tantalizing questions about race and class in the Jim Crow South, yet we don’t know who these women are or their personal stories. We do know it is an unusual, intimate photo of race relations and economic inequality, subjects as freighted today as they were 60 years ago when the Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum.” If you have any information on this woman, or the other two subjects, please get in touch —> lensnytimes@gmail.com

By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK Contributor

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