Mobile Museum of Art brings the iconic photographs by Gordon Parks during the Jim Crow era back to the city where they were captured with the special exhibition, Gordon Parks: Segregation Story in Mobile, 1956.

This exhibition of photographs documents the everyday activities and rituals of one extended black family, the Thorntons, in Mobile and Shady Grove, Alabama, during segregation. The images were originally published in a 1956 photo essay by Parks, an assignment from Life magazine after the Montgomery bus boycotts, but have come to be known around the world for helping to inspire the Civil Rights movement.

In an essay accompanying the portfolio of photographs Segregation Story produced in 2012 by The Gordon Parks Foundation, noted American cultural historian and art critic Maurice Berger explains,

“These quiet, compelling photographs elicit a reaction that Parks believed was critical to undoing racial prejudice: empathy. Throughout his career, he endeavored to help viewers, white and black, understand and share the feelings of others. It was with this goal in mind that he set out to document the lives of the Thornton family, creating images meant to alter the way Americans viewed one another and, ultimately, themselves.”

These photographs are lent to MMofA by the Gordon Parks Foundation. Opening day will be free to the public, but due to COVID-19 a reception and other programming in various disciplines—film, poetry, visual arts and civil rights history—will be held at a later date.

Friday, July 16, September 24, & November 19 @ 6:30 pm
at Alabama Contemporary Art Center

As part of our ongoing programming about MMofA’s special exhibition Gordon Parks: Segregation Story in Mobile, 1956, we’ve partnered with our friends at Alabama Contemporary Art Center to screen a series of films directed by the famed photojournalist. See the full schedule below.

Friday, July 16 @ 6:30 pm
Shaft
Cool black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.

Friday, September 24 @ 6:30 pm
Leadbelly
Biography of the legendary folksinger, Huddie Ledbetter, master of the 12-string guitar and long-time convict on Texas and Louisiana chain gangs.

Friday, November 19 @ 6:30 pm
The Learning Tree
The story, set in Kansas during the 1920s, covers less than a year in the life of a black teenager and documents the veritable deluge of events that force him into sudden manhood. The family relationships and enmities, the fears, frustrations, and ambitions of the black teenager in small-town America are explored with a strong statement about human values.

About GORDON PARKS: Segregation Story in Mobile, 1956

This exhibition of photographs documents the everyday activities and rituals of one extended black family, the Thorntons, in Mobile and Shady Grove, Alabama, during segregation. The images were originally published in a 1956 photo essay by Parks, an assignment from Life magazine after the Montgomery bus boycotts, but have come to be known around the world for helping to inspire the Civil Rights movement. Read more>>

Community Programming support by Mobile City Council members:  Joel Daves (District 5), Gina Gregory (District 7), Bess Rich (District 6), Frederick D. Richardson, Jr. (District 1), C.J. Small (District 3), and John C. Williams (District 4).