Half Past Autumn -- Gordon Parks

Part 1

1. On the day Gordon Parks was born, how did the doctor save Gordon's life? -- At first, Gordon Parks was stillborn. The doctor plunged him into a tub of cold water and he screamed.
2. Where was Gordon born? (what state?) -- Gordon Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kansas.
3. What did Gordon's college adviser, Ms. McClintock tell him about college? -- Ms. McClintock told Gordon Parks that very few African Americans go to college and it wasn't worth his parents' money.
4. How old was Gordon when his mother died? -- Gordon Parks was 15.
5. Where did Gordon move after his father die? -- Gordon Parks moved to St. Pauls, Minnesota to live with his aunt.
6. Did Gordon graduate from college? -- Yes, he graduated from Princeton.
7. How did Gordon begin his fashion photography career? -- Gordon Parks got a job in St. Paul, Minnesota for a women's clothing store owned by David Murphy.
8. What is a "double exposure?" -- A double exposure has two exposures which seem to create one image.
9. Who was boxer Joe Louis? -- Joe Louis was a heavy weight boxing champion, whose wife Marva convinced Gordon Parks to move to Chicago.
10. What instrument did Gordon play? -- Gordon Parks played the piano.
11. What was the purpose of the Farm Security Agency? -- The FSA was created to help combat American rural poverty during the Great Depression.
12. When Roy Stryker hired Gordon for the FSA, what was Stryker's first assignment for Gordon in Washington, D.C.? -- Gordon Parks' first assignment was to watch a particular movie.
13. Who was Ella Watson? -- Ella Watson, an African-American woman in the FSA, was the subject of Parks' American Gothic.
14. What was the inspiration for Grant Wood's American Gothic? -- Grant Wood was inspired by the segregation he saw in Washington D.C.
15. What did Gordon learn from Stryker about photography? -- Stryker taught Gordon how to approach his subjects.