Gordon Parks's Alternative Civil Rights Photographs - NYTimes.com: Gordon Parks’s portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Thornton Sr., an older black couple in their Mobile, Ala., home in 1956, appears to have little in common with the images we have come to associate with civil rights photography.
It is in color, unlike most photographs of the movement. Its subject matter was neither newsworthy nor historic, unlike more widely published journalistic images of the racial murders, police brutality, demonstrations and boycotts that characterized the epic battle for racial justice and equality.
... Throughout a century of oppression, photography served as a ray of
light for black Americans, illuminating the humanity, beauty and
achievements long hidden in the culture at large. By allowing a people
to record and celebrate the affirmative aspects of their lives, the
camera helped to countermand the toxic effects of stereotypes on their
self-esteem.
