New exhibit shows life in segregated 1950s
Husband and Wife, Sunday Morning, Detroit, Michigan, 1950.
The exhibit "Back to Fort Scott" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston through September 13, 2015 shows the lives of African-Americans living across the Midwest in 1950 as seen by photographer Gordon Parks.
Parks' former classmate Pauline Terry and her husband, Bert Collins, photographed on their way to Sunday services at Macedonia Baptist Church.
Back to Fort Scott
Columbus, Ohio, 1950.
Parks made the photographs for LIFE magazine, where he was the first African-American staff photographer, but they were never published.
Back to Fort Scott
Railway Station Entrance, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1950.
Parks graduated as a ninth-grader. He tracked down 10 of his 12 classmates from Plaza School class of 1927. Many had left town in search of better jobs in places like Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago and Detroit.
Back to Fort Scott
Untitled, St. Louis, Missouri, 1950.
The images give a glimpse of life in the Midwest in the years before the Civil Rights Movement.
Back to Fort Scott
Tenement Dwellers, Chicago, Illinois, 1950.
Three of Parks' classmates lived in Chicago, which had the largest black population in the country.
Back to Fort Scott
Untitled, Chicago, Illinois, 1950.
The image shows classmate Fred Wells and his wife Mary in front of their apartment building in the Washington Park neighborhood
Back to Fort Scott
Untitled, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1950.
Parks later wrote "The Learning Tree" about growing up in Fort Scott.
Back to Fort Scott
Shoes, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1950.
Parks directed the film "The Learning Tree" in 1969 and "Shaft" in 1971.
Back to Fort Scott
Untitled, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1950.
Back to Fort Scott
Mrs. Jefferson, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1950.
Back to Fort Scott
Untitled, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1950.
Parks died in 2006.
Back to Fort Scott
Uncle James Parks, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1950.
The exhibit is on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston through September 13, 2015.