Gordon Parks Academy - Visiting Paris

Gordon Parks Academy students, U.S. Embassy Minister Counselor Lawrence Randolph (rear left),
Kansas State Representative K.C. Ohaebosim (rear right), and ARISE members
at the Hôtel Talleyrand in Paris

GORDON PARKS ACADEMY IN PARIS

From May 28 – June 2, 2024, nine students from the Gordon Parks Academy (GPA) middle school visited Paris, France to walk in the footsteps of their school’s namesake, photographer/filmmaker/composer Gordon Parks.

The trip was the brain child of San Jose State University Professor Michael Cheers, a respected protégé of Parks and a long-time advocate for Parks’ legacy.  Cheers intends to write a book and create a video documentary entitled Why I Needed Paris from the content he created during this trip.

Jumpstreet Tours of Montreal, Canada built the majority of the itinerary.  Through the Entrée to Black Paris (ETBP) Cultural Awareness Program, WIF organized four events for these students, as well as accompanying educators, parents, and film crew.

U.S. EMBASSY ENCOUNTER

On the day they arrived, the travelers made their way to the Hôtel Talleyrand in Paris’ 1st arrondissement.

They were welcomed by Minister Counselor of Public Policy Lawrence Randolph, who regaled the group with the story about how his first study abroad experience as a middle school student changed his life and led to him becoming a public service profession who has worked in multiple countries across the globe. Randolph then fielded questions from the audience.

Accompanying adults in the group included Kansas State Representative KC Ohaebosim, University of Virginia Professor and Gordon Parks scholar John Edwin Mason, and four members of the ARISE Ensemble, the Wichita, KS choral group that worked diligently to raise funds for the trip.

ARISE’s LaTonia Kennedy (GPA’s principal), Sheila Kinnard, Prisca Barnes and Sharon Cranford serenaded Randolph at the end of his talk.

Representative Ohaebosim presented Minister Counselor Randolph with a T-shirt, and the students, educators, ARISE members, and other accompanying adults then took advantage of the opportunity to be photographed with him.

When he took his leave, the group settled in for a presentation of the history of the Hôtel Talleyrand, followed by a tour of the George Marshall salons.

A final photo opportunity presented itself in the courtyard as the group left the event.

GRANDEST OF AVENUES WALKING TOUR

On the morning of May 30, the skies withheld their rain as the GPA entourage experienced the Entrée to Black Paris Grandest of Avenues walking tour. This tour was customized for the group to include multiple photos by and references to Gordon Parks.

Professor Cheers, who conducted a two-day photojournalism boot camp at GPA in Wichita prior to the trip to prepare the students for their photography activities in Paris, coached the students as they walked through the area that Gordon Parks frequented when he was on staff at Life Magazine,

He took his own photos as well.

Many of the photos and all the videos in this section were graciously contributed by ARISE member Prisca Barnes.

THE GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY SHOOT OUT!

On the morning of the last full day of the itinerary, the students participated in a fashion photography shoot organized in collaboration with Ali Mezrane of Image In, a French nonprofit association that offers activities and interventions dedicated to disciplines combining image, creativity and digital technology.

Mezrane selected middle-school-aged students from the Chapelle quarter of the 18th arrondissement to the GPA students and photograph two professional models on the streets of the neighborhood in just the way Gordon Parks photographed models for Vogue Magazine in Paris in 1949.

The group met at the youth center called Espace Paris Jeunes Nathalie Sarraute in the 18th arrondissement.  Professor Cheers and GPA President LaTonia Kennedy addressed all the students, with Mezrane and one of the student’s guides translating, before the students were assigned to groups to go on the photo shoot.  Professor Cheers announced that the student who captured the most interesting image based on the training he had provided would win a brand new digital camera!

Students also got to meet award-winning French photographer Cebos Nalcakan, a Franco-Turkish native of the 18th arrondissement.  He addressed the students as well, emphasizing the importance of understanding self and developing relationships with those in the community whose stories he wishes to tell through photography.

After the presentations and Q&A, the students were split into two groups, each of which contained equal numbers of French and American youth.  One group set out with a female model, the other with a male model.

Jeanne (aka Ginn Ahouanto) led her group over to rue Riquet, where the students photographed her on a bridge over railroad tracks, on the grounds of the arts association Curry Vavart, and in a neighborhood garden.

After about an hour, both groups and their models returned to youth center to show Professor Cheers their images.  The students were having such a great time that the shoot continued on the esplanade in front of the youth center for much longer than anticipated.

A 7th-grade GPA student named Abby won the prize.

MEETING ELLEN WRIGHT-HERVE

The final event that WIF planned for GPA was a meeting with Ellen Wright-Hervé.

Wright-Hervé is the granddaughter of Richard Wright (1908-1960), the pre-eminent African-American writer of the post-WWII era in Paris.  Gordon Parks photographed Wright twice in 1943 prior to lunching with him in Paris in the early 1950s.

The meeting was planned to take place at 4, rue Regis, Wright’s last home.  However, the weather was uncooperative, and Wright-Hervé arranged an impromptu encounter at a nearby café to avoid having to speak during a torrential downpour.  Though the café was only able to accommodate the students and three of the adult chaperones, she was able to present the group with three haikus that she wrote for the students.  She asked each of them about their career aspirations and talked with them about her grandfather’s legacy.

(The rest of the group strolled around the neighborhood, shopped, or otherwise amused themselves.)

When the rain let up slightly, the entire group assembled in front of 4, rue Regis and Wright-Hervé re-presented the information she had prepared for the benefit of those who had not been able to sit with the students in the café.

To learn more about the Entrée to Black Paris Cultural Awareness Program, click HERE.