Gordon Parks, one of the most consequential photographers in history, documented American life in the middle of the 20th century, with a focus on race relations and civil rights. Parks also spent a great deal of time examining the role of religion and spirituality, and how those traditions impact the environment and the communities from which they emerge. Thanks to a partnership with the Gordon Parks Foundation in 2022, Howard University is now home to the second-largest collection of Gordon Parks photographs. Many of those images were displayed in an exhibit at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center this past fall titled, Temples of Hope, Rituals of Survival: Gordon Parks and Black Religious Life. The exhibit was curated by Dr. Melanee Harvey, associate professor of art history at Howard, and attracted the largest number of visitors to the Howard University Museum in its history. On this episode of On the Yard, Dr. Benjamin Talton sits down with Dr. Harvey to discuss Gordon Parks’ life, legacy, and work capturing and preserving the 20th-century Black experience. They also chat about future Howard exhibits showcasing Parks’ photos, and the incredible opportunity this collection presents for students studying visual arts and humanities at Howard. Temples of Hope, Rituals of Survival: Gordon Parks and Black Religious Life, runs through the end of January 2026. Episode Guide: 00:00 Show Introduction 00:50 Meet Dr. Melanee Harvey 01:57 Gordon Parks: A Pioneering Photographer 04:03 Gordon Parks' Impact and Legacy 06:16 Incorporating Gordon Parks into Education 07:46 Temples of Hope: Curating the Exhibit 08:28 Exploring Gordon Parks' Religious Imagery 16:44 Gordon Parks and the Nation of Islam 22:56 Gordon Parks' Global Perspective 32:12 Future Plans and Exhibitions On the Yard is a production of The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and is produced by University FM. Episode Quotes:Visualizing black religious practice [08:20] Dr. Melanee Harvey: One of my scholarly areas of interest has been examining visually how Black religious practice is documented. So, you know, this exhibition really doesn’t emerge from my interest in putting up on the wall images of Black religion. [08:34] Dr. Benjamin Talton: Now, is this memoirish? A little bit, because you have a religious background? [08:38] Dr. Melanee Harvey: Well, if you say it that way, not memoirish, but I will say I feel like I had the privilege to grow up the daughter of a minister, but also my mother’s father was a Baptist minister, so I’m like second-generation preacher’s kid. And so, I think with that in mind, I’ve always been in church spaces. And once I got to graduate school and started studying African American architecture and American art, those images and spaces were completely absent. So, it’s been a focus of my career to, kind of, fill that hole and also begin to probe and interrogate the way that images of religious practice have been used in America. The importance of study sets in the humanities, visual and liberal arts [04:54] Study sets are so central to I would say the humanities and visual art instruction at liberal arts institutions. And these are collections that, for all intents and purposes, do not leave the institution and are anchored there to really be study tools, right? Lessons of instruction. And I think that’s really how we plan on using it. I think, although we have introduced this exhibition that demonstrates community and spirituality, there’s still so many thematic topics to address within the collection. Gordon Parks understood his power [15:51] He [Gordon Parks] is often quoted as saying, you know, “The camera was my choice of weapon,” right? So, what is it? I think even in that choice of weapon, that means he understood his power, right? In image making, telling a story, and documenting a presence. Show Links: Gordon Parks Foundation Collection | Digital HowardTemples of Hope, Rituals of Survival: Gordon Parks and Black Religious Life ExhibitThe Moorland-Spingarn Research CenterFollow MSRC on Instagram and YouTube Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
