Muslim Boy

Gordon Parks, artist

1912–2006

Muslim Boy, 1963

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: gelatin silver print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 48.6 x 14 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 19 1/8 x 5 1/2 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 25 x 20 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Friends of the Art Museum

Accession number: 1993.0048

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Collection Cards: People

This photograph shows a flag with a moon and star hanging behind a child looking at the viewers. The crescent moon and a single star is a symbol of Islam, one of the largest religions in the world. This picture is part of a photo essay about Black Muslims in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. This social movement worked to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to provide equal rights and fair treatment.

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Archive Label:
Gordon Parks has enjoyed a long and successful career as an artist, working in poetry, fiction, autobiography, film, and ballet as well as in the medium for which he is best known, photography. During the 1940s he made photographs for the Farm Security Administration and the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, projects that documented American life during that time. He joined the staff of Life magazine in 1949 as its first African-American photographer, working in France, the United States, and Brazil. He retired from Life in the early 1970s and now makes film, writes, paints, and composes music, in addition to his photography.