Nicole Fleetwood speaks on the power of Gordon Parks photography and how she thinks his midwestern upbringing helped his ability to connect. She discusses much of his work, including how his photos of the "Doll Test" from 1947 in Ebony magazine helped push legislation in the Civil Rights Movement, specifically the 1954 ruling by the Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education.

Nicole R. Fleetwood is a writer, curator, and the James Weldon Johnson Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU who has recently been named the Gordon Parks Foundation’s inaugural Genevieve Young Fellow in Writing. Fleetwood’s research and writing has focused on representations of Blackness in art, performance, and popular culture. Her recent landmark book and exhibition, Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration (2020), which investigates the cultural, personal, and aesthetic significance of incarcerated people’s art.

From the HBO / Kunhardt Film Foundation (KFF) Documentary "A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks" that follows Parks' career, from staff photographer for LIFE magazine through his artistic development and evolution as a novelist and filmmaker.

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Nicole Fleetwood, Professor
Interviewed By: John Maggio
Interview Date: August 11, 2020

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