Object Details
- Artist
- Gordon Parks, 30 Nov 1912 - 7 Mar 2006
- Sitter
- Malcolm X, 19 May 1925 - 21 Feb 1965
- Exhibition Label
- Born Omaha, Nebraska
- Gordon Parks photographed Malcolm X on a New York City sidewalk as he sold a special issue of Muhammad Speaks, the official newspaper of the black separatist group Nation of Islam. Parks, who was covering the civil rights movement for Life magazine, found Malcolm X “a spellbinding orator of bitter wit, power, and impressive intellect.” The former Malcolm Little rose to a position of authority in the early 1960s in the civil rights movement and infamously criticized Martin Luther King Jr. for “begging for integration.” In 1961, Malcolm X declared, “We’ve shaken up the white man by asking for separation.” Although he would reject the Nation of Islam in 1964 and eventually reconciled his differences with King, Malcolm X was instrumental in making the campaign for civil rights more militant and in planting the seeds for the Black Power movement. He was assassinated in 1965.
- Nacido en Omaha, Nebraska
- Gordon Parks fotografió a Malcolm X en una acera de Nueva York vendiendo un número especial de Muhammad Speaks, el periódico oficial del grupo separatista negro Nación del Islam. Parks, que estaba cubriendo para la revista Life el movimiento por los derechos civiles, consideraba a Malcolm X “un orador poderoso, de ingenio amargo e intelecto impresionante”. El activista, cuyo nombre original era Malcolm Little, alcanzó una posición de autoridad dentro del movimiento por los derechos civiles a principios de la década de 1960, y fue famosa su crítica a Martin Luther King Jr. por “suplicar la integración racial”. En 1961 declaró: “Hemos hecho temblar al hombre blanco pidiendo la separación”. Aunque acabó por rechazar a la Nación del Islam en 1964 y al final subsanó sus diferencias con King, Malcolm X tuvo un papel decisivo en la intensificación del militantismo en la campaña por los derechos civiles y sembró la semilla del movimiento Black Power. Fue asesinado en 1965.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- 1963
- Object number
- NPG.98.81
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © Gordon Parks
- Type
- Photograph
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image/Sheet: 22.9 x 33.5 cm (9 x 13 3/16")
- Mat: 55.9 x 71.1 cm (22 x 28")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Printed Material\Newspaper
- Exterior\Street
- Malcolm X: Male
- Malcolm X: Social Welfare and Reform\Reformer\Activist
- Malcolm X: Social Welfare and Reform\Reformer\Social reformer\Civil rights activist\Civil rights leader
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.98.81
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm41ee34067-8b47-4278-9f99-6c739e40570c
