Gordon Parks
Red Jackson
1947
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Gordon Parks
Red Jackson
1947
Physical Qualities
Gelatin silver print, Sheet: 354 x 279 mm. (13 15/16 x 11 in.)
Image: 340 x 249 mm. (13 3/8 x 9 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase with a grant from the Florsheim Art Fund and with matching funds from Roger M. Dalsheimer, Baltimore
Object Number
1998.96
Gordon Parks himself suggested his first assignment for Life magazine. Published on November 2, 1948, this photo essay featured the life of seventeen-year-old Leonard (“Red”) Jackson (“so named because of his reddish hair and freckles”), the leader of the Harlem gang the Midtowners. Parks met Red Jackson at the 125th Street police precinct, and, after gaining his confidence, accompanied the gang leader for several weeks.
From the artist's collection
Looking through the Lens: Photography 1900-1960
Picturing America 1930-1960: Photographs from The Baltimore Museum of Art
Every Day: Selections from the Collection
"Harlem Gang Leader," Life, Vol. 25, No. 18, November 1, 1948, pp. 96-104, 106
Philip Brookman, HALF PAST AUTUMN, A RETROSPECTIVE: GORDON PARKS, exhibition catalogue (Boston: Bullfinch Press and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1997). Martin Bush, THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF GORDON PARKS, exhibition catalogue (Kansas: Witchita State University, 1983).
Philip Brookman, HALF PAST AUTUMN, A RETROSPECTIVE: GORDON PARKS, exhibition catalogue (Boston: Bullfinch Press and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1997). Martin Bush, THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF GORDON PARKS, exhibition catalogue (Kansas: Witchita State University, 1983).
Inscribed: upper left verso stamped in black ink: "LIFE PHOTO BY GORDON PARKS"; center verso, in orange crayon: "H" (in circle); center verso in graphite: "27655 / RI / 2"; lower center verso in graphite: "PF20692"
Markings: none
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