YWCA Racial Justice Book Club

The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks

Join thoughtful discussions on topics of racial justice. This month we'll meet at a special library event to learn more about author Gordon Parks. Email estaley@tscpl.org for a copy of the book. 

The YWCA Racial Justice Book Club meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month. This month we will meet at a special event at the library to learn more about author Gordon Parks. Join us in person at the library on February 27th in Marvin Auditorium at 7pm. All are welcome! Questions? Email Lissa at estaley@tscpl.org

Learn about the impact and inspiration found in Parks's work. Themes of love, dignity and hard work provide a starting point to talk about his struggles and triumphs. Sponsored by Humanities Kansas. 

African American author, photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks was well known for his documentation of American life and culture. Born in Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1912, he is one of the most esteemed image makers of all time. In this presentation, photographer Ann Dean discusses the impact and inspiration found in Parks’s books: The Learning Tree, A Choice of Weapons and Half Past Autumn. These books help illustrate Parks’s mother’s teachings centered in love, dignity, and hard work, and provide a starting point to talk about his struggles, choices, and triumphs – all great life lessons for those searching to find their way in this complicated world. Sponsored by Humanities Kansas. 

Stay updated about Racial Justice Book Club information including receiving the meeting details and Zoom link by signing up: ywcaneks.org/what-we-do/advocate/racial-justice-book-club

More About the Book

The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
 
In 1963, the same year that Gordon Parks photographed the March on Washington and the day-to-day activities of members of the Nation of Islam, he published his first novel—The Learning Tree.  A semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age story, the novel follows the journey of Newt Winger, a Black teenage descendant of Exodusters growing up in rural Kansas in the 1920s who learns through hard-won lessons how to navigate the injustices of systemic racism. The book’s title is derived from a cautionary word of advice given to Parks by his mother when he departed his hometown of Fort Scott, Kansas. It is later recounted in the book by Sarah Winger, Newt’s mother, during a long evening walk:

“Some of the people are good and some of them are bad—just like the fruit on a tree…. No matter if you go or stay, think of it like that until the day you die—let it be your learning’ tree.”

Unlike the paths chosen by some of the book’s characters, Parks himself refused to let the injustices he encountered turn to retributions and instead chose the camera as his weapon. By 1963, the photographs he had taken for Life magazine contributed to the momentum of the civil rights movement and helped transform the ways in which American Black life was seen and understood. The publication of The Learning Tree would mark yet another pivotal moment in his career. Read more about Parks here from the Gordon Parks Foundation: https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/education/features/the-learning-tree

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