Voices in the Mirror by Gordon Parks

First published: 1990

Type of work: Autobiography

Time of work: 1912-1979

Locale: United States

Principal Personages:

• Gordon Parks, a prominent African American artist who has distinguished himself as a photographer, composer, novelist, journalist, poet, and filmmaker
• Sarah Parks, his mother, who died when he was still a child but remained an inspiration to him
• Jackson Parks, his stern but devoted father, who taught him the values of industry and responsibility
• Sally Parks, his first wife
• Elizabeth Parks, his second wife
• Genevieve Parks, his third wife

Form and Content

Voices in the Mirror is a full-length autobiography of an African American who achieved spectacular success in a number of fields that had previously been open almost exclusively to whites. Gordon Parks distinguished himself as a photographer, a painter, a journalist, a poet, a novelist, an author of nonfiction books, a musician, a composer, and a motion-picture director. He received more than fifty honorary doctorates and awards, including the National Medal of Art, which was presented to him by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.

Parks’s autobiography reads like an exciting novel, because he had such an eventful life, rising from the depths of poverty to the heights of fame and fortune. Because Parks was a photographer and a painter, he could not help writing in a visual, metaphorical style, with many vivid descriptions of people, places, and things. His book consists largely of a string of anecdotes intended to highlight different periods of his life.

The twenty-six chapters carry the reader in steady chronological order from Parks’s earliest childhood up until the death of his son Gordon Parks, Jr., in 1979. In an epilogue written when he was in his late seventies, Parks states that he still has a passion for living and still retains big dreams about future accomplishments.

The book that Voices in the Mirror most closely resembles is The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965). Parks, like his eloquent and charismatic friend Malcolm X, grew up in poverty and lived in slums as a youth. He could easily have become a dangerous criminal, like the young Malcolm X, were it not for the fact that Parks possessed unusual artistic talent. After flirting with a criminal career, which he describes in interesting anecdotes, he became interested in photography.

The camera proved to be his salvation. It not only became a means to earn a good living and to achieve social status but also served as a “weapon” against the forces of racial bigotry and economic discrimination. Parks paints vivid word-pictures of conditions in the black ghettos during the 1930’s and 1940’s, when African Americans were restricted to the most menial occupations and could not even aspire to be taxi drivers or elevator operators, much less policemen, firemen, or construction workers.

In the epilogue to his autobiography, Parks writes that all his life he has been called “Mr. Dreamer,” “Mr. Striver,” and “Mr. Success.” These three nicknames characterize him effectively. Because of the strength instilled in his character by his devoted mother, Parks has exhibited an amazing degree of courage and self-confidence. He relates many anecdotes about his enterprising behavior. For example, without having any experience in fashion photography, he asked for a job taking pictures of the latest gowns for one of the most prominent designers in New York—and, largely because of his cockiness, he got the job.

Parks did all kinds of work with a camera during his long career. The biggest turning point came when he managed to get a job as the first African American ever to become a staff photographer for the prestigious Life magazine, which sent him all over the world to work on many different kinds of stories. He became one of the world’s best photojournalists, using both words and pictures to capture the essence of a particular story or situation. His experience in writing prose to accompany his photographs gave him the confidence to try writing poetry and fiction. His life is a story of looking for new challenges and then succeeding with distinction.

Parks was able to do stories for Life that no white reporter or photographer would have dared to try. One of Parks’s earliest accomplishments as a photojournalist was his article on Red Jackson, a young Harlem gang leader. He was able to win the confidence of a gang of violent young African Americans because he could talk their language. He went on to do articles on southern segregation, the Black Muslims, the Black Panthers, and black civil rights leaders. For many years, he was Life’s only black photographer, and the magazine was happy to have him, because he could be counted on to handle such sensitive assignments judiciously.

Parks was involved in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s and became personally acquainted with many of its most important figures. His photojournalism helped to make the American public familiar with the names and faces of such leaders as Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Parks also became a trusted friend of the fearlessly outspoken heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali. Many of Parks’s most interesting anecdotes in Voices in the Mirror contain revealing looks at famous African Americans of the twentieth century. His book is illustrated with some of his own best photographs of celebrities, revealing how he was able to use his camera to condense an entire story into a single powerful image.

Parks knew a great deal about still photography but next to nothing about motion-picture making when he agreed to direct a film adaptation of his own 1963 novel The Learning Tree. He eventually agreed to write the screenplay for the film and the musical score as well. His success led to more filmmaking assignments, including the cult classic Superfly (1972) and the highly successful Shaft (1971), which, according to Parks, gave black youth “their first cinematic hero comparable to James Cagney or Humphrey Bogart.”

Parks loved the motion-picture medium because it called upon many of his creative talents. He also directed several documentary films and the feature film Leadbelly (1976), a dramatized biography of the African American composer and folk singer Huddie Ledbetter. Parks identified with Leadbelly because both had used their creative talents to rise above poverty and social injustice.

Voices in the Mirror is made colorful by its vivid descriptions of places such as Paris, Manhattan, and Rio de Janeiro, as well as by anecdotes about such famous people as Richard Wright, Ingrid Bergman, Gloria Vanderbilt, Winston Churchill, Dwight Eisenhower, King Farouk, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. As sophisticated as he became, Parks is nevertheless clearly impressed by many of the celebrities he met during his adventurous lifetime.

One of the most striking aspects of Parks’s autobiography is the dynamic way in which he balances anecdotes about his personal life with anecdotes about his travel experiences and encounters with celebrities. Parks was married three times and had four children. His first marriage lasted the longest; it broke up in 1961 because his wife resented the fact that her husband was leading an exciting life and achieving fame while she was confined at home with their children. His second marriage was to a much younger woman who attracted him physically but could not relate to him on an intellectual level; they were divorced in 1973. In his third marriage, he felt that he had at last found a real soul mate and intellectual equal; however, that marriage disintegrated after ten years. He candidly admits that his driving ambition and itinerant lifestyle made marriage difficult for his wives.

His autobiography contains many anecdotes about his wives and offspring. It concludes with the tragic story of the death of his son, Gordon, Jr., who died in an airplane crash while taking photos for a motion picture set in Africa. The last pages of Voices in the Mirror have a somber tone, in contrast to the optimism and sense of high adventure conveyed even in the early chapters. He acknowledges that he has made many mistakes. In old age, he writes, “You are left wondering if you are all you set out to be; if what was to be done is finally done. . . . By then you are locked into your fate, and you are whatever you are, waiting for the final door to slam shut.”

Critical Context

Parks’s photographs, paintings, poetry, books, musical compositions, and films met with critical acclaim throughout his multifaceted career. Voices in the Mirror was no exception. Critics were practically unanimous in calling it an interesting book because it was expertly written by a man who was himself his most fascinating character. Critic Phoebe-Lou Adams called Parks’s autobiography “a superb example of what talent, courage and determination can accomplish against odds.” Michael Eric Dyson’s review in The New York Times commented that “through the power of his words, this intelligent and sensitive interpreter of human experience has now turned the mirror toward us as well as himself; we, like Mr. Parks, must be judged by the integrity of our response to what we hear and see. Let us hope that we are half as successful as he has been.”

Parks’s autobiography demonstrates to readers of all races that African Americans have no reason to feel inferior to anyone. Even the most bigoted reader is forced to acknowledge that Parks’s record of successes in a wide variety of difficult endeavors has been rivaled by few whites. Parks writes from an elevated standpoint; his own life is proof of the principles he preaches.

For African Americans, Parks’s message is clear. Even the most disadvantaged has no cause to despair; the doors of opportunity can be forced open if one is willing to work hard, to learn the skills needed for success, and to refuse to be intimidated by hostility, ridicule, or rejection. Above all, Parks’s autobiography demonstrates that young African Americans can accept any challenge life has to offer and can share equally in the cultural riches of the entire world.

Bibliography

Berry, Skip. Gordon Parks. New York: Chelsea House, 1991. A brief biography of Parks, liberally illustrated with black-and-white photographs taken by Parks and others. Part of Chelsea House’s Black Americans of Achievement Series.

Parks, Gordon. Born Black. Philadelphia: J. J. Lippincott, 1971. A collection of essays mainly about Parks’s impressions of famous black leaders, including Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, and Huey Newton. Illustrated with some of Parks’s best photographs. Many of the essays and photographs originally appeared in Life.

Parks, Gordon. A Choice of Weapons. New York: Harper & Row, 1966. An earlier autobiographical work covering the author’s difficult life in Kansas, Minnesota, Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C., up until the year 1944, when he went to Harlem. The title of the book refers to his choice of the camera as a “weapon” against racial and economic injustice.

Parks, Gordon. Flavio. New York: W. W. Norton, 1978. A true account of an impoverished Brazilian boy and his family whom Parks befriended during a photographic assignment for Life magazine. Illustrated with Parks’s emotionally stirring photographs of slum conditions in Rio de Janeiro.

Parks, Gordon. “Freedom’s Fearful Foe: Poverty.” Life 50 (June 16, 1961): 86-98. This article about Flavio da Silva and his family is an excellent example of Parks’s photojournalism. For many years Life, like its sister publication Time, was a powerful shaper of opinion, and the magazine was of vital importance to Parks’s career.

Parks, Gordon. In Love. Philadelphia: J. J. Lippincott, 1971. A collection of Parks’s poetry, illustrated with his own impressionistic color photographs. Displays another side of Parks’s multifaceted personality.

Parks, Gordon. To Smile in Autumn: A Memoir. New York: W. W. Norton, 1979. An earlier autobiographical work by Parks illustrated with his own distinctive black-and-white photographs. Covers his life and work during the period from 1944 through 1978.