Project the image Self-Portrait, 1941 in the Lesson Plan PDF.

Have students discuss the definition of self-portrait.

Teacher Note: A self-portrait is a portrait of the artist, by the artist.

Ask students to analyze this self-portrait using context clues and discussing these questions: 

*What do you see? 

*How is the image framed by the artist?

*As a self-portrait, what is being communicated? 

*What information can you infer from the date of this self-portrait? 

*What information can you draw from all the information in the caption to inform your analysis?

*What more information is the caption giving us that we have not already discussed in the previous questions?

Extended Learning: To engage students in a deeper understanding and discussion of the importance of photography in Black life have them read bell hooks’s essay Art on My Mind: Visual Politics. New York: The New Press. 54–64.

Teacher Note: The readings, film clips, and interviews included in the next three sections build a foundation for students to learn about Gordon Parks. Explain to students that they will read three short excerpts from his autobiography, watch several film clips from the documentary A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks, and watch several collections of interviews about Parks that have been created for this lesson.

Read this biographical overview from The Gordon Parks Foundation together as a class. 

Ask students:

*Who was Gordon Parks?

*What details about Parks’ life and career stood out?

Have the students discuss and chart details they learned about Gordon Parks’ life and any questions that surface on a shared online document, whiteboard, or in their own notes.

Distribute Handout 1: Autobiography Excerpts

Teacher Note: Depending upon the reading level of your students, assign this reading independently or create a jigsaw exercise for triads to complete together. 

Have students read these autobiographical excerpts and underline significant details they see as being formative to Parks’ career as an artist. 

Return to their notes and continue to add to Gordon Parks’ portrait. 

Watch Film Clip 1: “The Beginning” (3:32) 
Access in “Film Clips”
Note: This film clip contains violence and racist language against a young Black man.

In Film Clip 1 we are introduced to Gordon Parks; his early years in segregated Fort Scott, Kansas; and the important role photography played in his life.

After watching the clip, have students continue to add new information about Gordon Parks onto their shared classroom document. 

Discuss and Reflect 

Teacher Note: Read aloud Bryan Stevenson’s reflection on Gordon Parks, which he shared in the documentary. 

“Growing up in Kansas, to be proximate to lynching and racial terrorism, [is] to understand the weight that people of color felt in these spaces where you had to basically be two people— one person around white people that would keep you safe and another person with your family—I think just gave him [Gordon Parks] an insight to the Black narrative.”

Ask students to discuss their understanding of this statement and what “Black narrative” means in the context of this quote. 

Teacher Note: The filmmakers conducted numerous interviews to produce A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks. The full interviews are accessible in the Interview Archive. A selection of these interviews, edited and curated together here to create interview threads, is included in each lesson to provide additional insights and scholarship to deepen students’ learning.

Two interview threads were created for Lesson One and can be accessed in “Interviews”

Early Life and Family (13:00)
Watch and listen to Philip Brookman, Maurice Berger, and Adger Cowans share additional background on the biography of Gordon Parks.

Extension: There are many inferences to the racial terror that Gordon Parks experienced early in his life. For a deeper look at the history of racial terror in America, see the Equal Justice Initiatives work “Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror.” Note that this website contains images of lynching and other forms of racial terror and violence.

Beginning His Career (5:00)
Watch and listen to Khalil Muhammad, Jelani Cobb, and Michal Raz-Russo discuss how Gordon Parks began his work as a professional photographer.

Small Group Discussion: 
After watching and listening to the interviews, ask the class:

*What additional insights did scholars and friends of Gordon Parks share that deepens your understanding of Parks’ early life and experiences?

*What did you learn about the historical context in which Gordon Parks was beginning his career? What was going on in America, and the world, in the 1940s?

Closing Discussion 
Reflecting on what they have learned and discussed about Gordon Parks, return to the essential question for this lesson. 

Discuss as a class: How did Gordon Parks’ early life experiences and childhood inform and shape his artistic point of view?

LaToya Ruby Frazier Photographs

One of the artists in the documentary, LaToya Ruby Frazier, shared several self-portraits that she has taken over the years. Take a look at the self portraits in the Lesson Plan PDF or through her online portfolio and return to Gordon Parks’ 1941 self-portrait to help you create your own.

Discuss:

*What do you notice about each of these photographs?

*What may have LaToya Ruby Frazier been trying to express about herself? 

*What artistic decisions did she make to express those things?

*How did she physically or technically execute these images?

*Are there aspects of any of these self-portraits that you would like to apply to your own work?

Teacher Note: This is the first of five photography projects included in this suite of lessons. Explain to students that each lesson will focus on a different technique, approach, or subject matter that Gordon Parks employed. At the end of the five lessons, students will share a final portfolio photograph with the class or with the public.

Sample Educator Script

“Today, taking pictures with cell phones and documenting your everyday life is not so unusual. In fact, you may take dozens of selfies a day—that’s a form of self-portrait. Remember, this lesson began by closely analyzing a self-portrait Gordon Parks composed in 1941 just as he was beginning his career as a photographer. To celebrate how powerfully one photograph can reflect and communicate who you are, take some time to compose your own self-portrait. Rather than just quickly clicking a snapshot with your phone, consider the following: 

*What do you want to communicate about yourself? 

*Think about location, time of day, what you want to wear, and if you will include any props or other people.

*What do you want the viewer to think about you? 

*What do you want the viewer to know about your experience?

*What do you want the viewer to experience about your community, family, and life through the self portrait?

After completing your self-portrait, write a brief artist statement reflecting upon your process. An artist statement helps the audience understand your artistic process and vision. It is written in the first person and can include key ideas, inspiration, resources, goals, challenges, or other insights you want to share. An artist statement is usually brief and concise, generally a short paragraph.

Here are some sentence starters to guide your first artist statement:

I believe a self portrait _______________.

In creating my self portrait I _____________.

What you cannot see in this self portrait is _________________.

To request the full film for an educational screening, visit this page.