WICHITA — A poetry reading will be the first of several events at Wichita State University celebrating the centennial of Gordon Parks’ birthday this year. Students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members will read poems from Parks’ eight books of poetry from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, March 7, the sixth anniversary of his death in New York City, in Rhatigan Student Center’s Fireplace Lounge at Wichita State. Admission is free. Parks was an internationally-known photographer, director, composer and author who was born Nov. 30, 1912, in Fort Scott, and was scarred by the racism he encountered when he grew up in Kansas. In later life, he later came to terms with his home and forgave Fort Scott and Kansas. In 2008, Wichita State received the collected papers of Gordon Parks. Twenty-nine of parks’ photographs are housed in the university’s Ulrich Museum of Art collection.
Monday, Feb. 20, 10 a.m.
