The first African American photographer to be hired full time by Life magazine, Gordon Parks was often sent on assignments involving social issues that his white colleagues were not asked to cover. In 1950 he returned on one such assignment to his hometown of Fort Scott in southeastern Kansas: he was to provide photographs for a piece on segregated schools and their impact on black children in the years prior to Brown v. Board of Education. Parks intended to revisit early memories of his birthplace, many involving serious racial discrimination, and to discover what had become of the 11 members of his junior high school graduation class since his departure 20 years earlier. But when he arrived only one member of the class remained in Fort Scott, the rest having followed the well-worn paths of the Great Migration in search of better lives in urban centers such as St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbus and Chicago. Heading out to those cities Parks found his friends and their families and photographed them on their porches, in their parlors and dining rooms, on their way to church and working at their jobs, and interviewed them about their decision to leave the segregated system of their youth and head north. His resulting photo essay was slated to appear in Life in the spring of 1951, but was ultimately never published. This book showcases the 80-photo series in a single volume for the first time, offering a sensitive and visually arresting view of our country's racialized history. Gordon Parks (1912-2006) was born into poverty and segregation in Fort Scott, Kansas. The self-taught photographer also found success as a film director, author and composer. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts and over 50 honorary degrees.

Includes several previously unpublished photographs, as well as enhanced reproductions created from Parks's original transparencies.

By the mid-1940s. Gordon Parks had cemented his reputation as a successful photojournalist and magazine photographer, and Ralph Ellison was an established author working on his first novel, Invisible Man (1952), which would go on to become one of the most acclaimed books of the twentieth century. Less well known, however, is that their vision of racial injustices, coupled with a shared belief in the communicative power of photography, inspired collaboration on two important projects, in 1948 and 1952. Capitalizing on the growing popularity of the picture press, Parks and Ellison first joined forces on an essay titled "Harlem Is Nowhere" for '48: The Magazine of the Year. Conceived while Ellison was already three years into writing Invisible Man, this illustrated essay was centered on the Lafargue Clinic, the first nonsegregated psychiatric clinic in New York City, as a case study for the social and economic conditions in Harlem. He chose Parks to create the accompanying photographs, and during the winter months of 1948, the two roamed the streets of Harlem together, with Parks photographing under the guidance of Ellison's writing. In 1952 they worked together again, on "A Man Becomes Invisible", for the August 25 issue of Life magazine, which promoted Ellison's newly released novel. Invisible Man: Gordon Parks and Ralph Ellison in Harlem focuses on these two projects, neither of which was published as originally intended, and provides an in-depth look at the authors' shared vision of black life in America, with Harlem as its nerve center.

Gordon Parks' ethically complex depictions of crime in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, with previously unseen photographs When Life magazine asked Gordon Parks to illustrate a recurring series of articles on crime in the United States in 1957, he had already been a staff photographer for nearly a decade, the first African American to hold this position. Parks embarked on a six-week journey that took him and a reporter to the streets of New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Unlike much of his prior work, the images made were in color. The resulting eight-page photo-essay "The Atmosphere of Crime" was noteworthy not only for its bold aesthetic sophistication, but also for how it challenged stereotypes about criminality then pervasive in the mainstream media. They provided a richly hued, cinematic portrayal of a largely hidden world: that of violence, police work and incarceration, seen with empathy and candor. Parks rejected clichés of delinquency, drug use and corruption, opting for a more nuanced view that reflected the social and economic factors tied to criminal behavior and afforded a rare window into the working lives of those charged with preventing and prosecuting it. Transcending the romanticism of the gangster film, the suspense of the crime caper and the racially biased depictions of criminality then prevalent in American popular culture, Parks coaxed his camera to record reality so vividly and compellingly that it would allow Life's readers to see the complexity of these chronically oversimplified situations. The Atmosphere of Crime, 1957 includes an expansive selection of never-before-published photographs from Parks' original reportage. Gordon Parks was born into poverty and segregation in Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1912. An itinerant laborer, he worked as a brothel pianist and railcar porter, among other jobs, before buying a camera at a pawnshop, training himself and becoming a photographer. He evolved into a modern-day Renaissance man, finding success as a film director, writer and composer. The first African-American director to helm a major motion picture, he helped launch the blaxploitation genre with his film Shaft (1971). Parks died in 2006.

New Novel Weaves Together Adventure, History and Romance Historical Two Volume Set Chronicles Battle between Slavery and Freedom, Love and Hate PORT COQUITLAM, British Columbia - Readers who have enjoyed historical fiction with a strong dash of adventure and a pinch of sex will surely love The Dark Side of the Mountain (published by AuthorHouse), the new epic in two volumes by S.A. Carter. Fueled by American historical events from 1854-1884, The Dark Side of the Mountain follows the adventures of John Saxton and Marcus Brown, who fight as Union guerillas against the Confederacy and all it stands for. Major Horatio Garrow and his son, Lucas, are mad men full of hate and greed, dedicated to one cause - their own. Along with a supporting cast of unforgettable characters both real and imaginary, these men are caught up in a vicious web of murder, dark secrets, betrayal and intrigue where only survival matters. In Volume One: The Dark Side of the Mountain; a young John Saxton watches helplessly as brutal slavers throw human cargo overboard to avoid capture by the "Africa Patrol." From then on, the Boston shipping heir becomes an implacable abolitionist bent on destroying slavery in America. Confederate spies, traitors and the dreaded Deacon Gang are arrayed against him. Can Saxton and his beautiful black bride, Virginia, survive a dangerous game of espionage, treachery and betrayal that culminates in the "honeymoon from hell?" As the Civil War divides and devours a nation, a black American guerilla force is carried behind Confederate lines by a unique sinking ship. Led by a giant Maasai warrior, they fight a determined and deadly foe from the eastern seaboard of America to its vast western plains. Even as the horror of war explodes around them, the Maasai Rangers embrace a common dream deep within the heart of Dixie. In Volume Two: The Dark Side of the Mountain; John Saxton is captured and thrown into the horror of Salisbury prison. Pursued by Major Horatio Garrow and his hapless brute of a companion Harley Blackstone, can Saxton survive? From his father's grave, a vengeful Lucas Garrow is led on a torturous search for stolen treasure. But a love fueled by the "Cause" and poisoned by greed, leads to a deadly confrontation. With America facing total ruination by blackmail; a battle erupts between a drug-addicted Lucas Garrow allied with the Klan, a militant underground colony of religious zealots, and the forces of justice bent on self-destruction. It all comes to an explosive conclusion not only deep within the heart of the Ozarks, but on Elder Mountain, Tennessee, where a utopia called Harmony Farm faces a forest fire out of control. Could Saxton and Marcus survive in an alien world and still find another dream called 'home'?

Even in 1952 the hospital that I was born in was antiquated. My mother it seems was always just outside of my physical reach, on those rare occasions when she was not at work, at church or catering to my father. She poured motherly love on me. These one on one time were far and few in between and never enough. I tried to prolong the attention by crying which only resulted in me being spanked (no one likes a loud mouth crying brat). It soon became clear to me the less attention I brought to myself the better it was for me, all the way around. There was plenty of laughter in my house but not by me. I learned not to cry when I was hungry. I learned it was better to wait for someone to notice that I needed changing and maybe they would remember to feed me or maybe not. I learned to crawl off by myself and listen to the tone of voices around me thereby gauging when it was safe to show myself and how I would be treated, these signs and symbols I filed away. Since it was females who God put in dominion over me, it was my goal to one day reverse those roles, it was out of these resentments that I wasted a lifetime turning women into bitches by inflicting emotional and physical harm on them. These dysfunctional character defects were the result of being the only boy child in a houseful of hedonistic women. This book is about the baggage I brought into my relationships which caused a lot of women in self defense to become bitches which is the reason for my repenting of the sinful hurt I inflicted on others as well as upon myself and how I recovered.

1st-6th biennial reports of the society, 1875-88, included in v. 1-4.

Official records produced by the armies of the United States and the Confederacy, and the executive branches of their respective governments, concerning the military operations of the Civil War, and prisoners of war or prisoners of state. Also annual reports of military departments, calls for troops, correspondence between national and state governments, correspondence between Union and Confederate officials. The final volume includes a synopsis, general index, special index for various military divisions, and background information on how these documents were collected and published. Accompanied by an atlas.