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"Open All The Doors"

© Meg Greene Malvasi

"It is harder for a woman than a man to start something," photographer Margaret Bourke-White once commented, "but once she gets started she has an easier time because her accomplishments attract more attention than a man's would." That statement captured the essence of Bourke-White's own accomplishments.

Born on June 14, 1904 in the Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City, Margaret Bourke-White grew up in a household that encouraged hard work and high standards. Along with her older sister Ruth and a younger brother Roger, Margaret was from an early age, quite independent. Her mother, Minnie Bourke-White, told Margaret to seek out and "open all the doors" that were available to her. It was a piece of advice that Margaret never forgot.

In 1921, at the age of 17, Margaret entered Columbia University. She originally set out to become a herpetologist, that is a scientist who studies reptiles and amphibians. But unfortunate circumstances brought about a change of heart. As a young girl, Margaret had watched her father tinker with a camera. On occasion she had even helped develop the rolls of film in the little darkroom he had fashioned for himself. Margaret, though, had never actually held or operated a camera. After her father's death in 1922, Margaret enrolled in a photography class as a way to keep his memory alive.

Margaret's instructor was the well-known photographer Clarence H. White. Under his guidance, Margaret learned more than how to use a camera; she discovered her passion for photography. By the end of the course, she was hooked and now sought every opportunity to take pictures with the old Ica Reflex camera that her mother had purchased for twenty dollars. Soon Margaret was earning extra money by taking portraits and snapping breathtaking landscape vistas.

Although Margaret eventually received her degree in herpetology from Cornell University in 1927, her talent with the camera soon attracted attention. When told that her portfolio was good enough to get her work, Margaret made an important decision: she would become a professional photographer. She soon acquired a reputation not only for her dramatic shots, but for the risks she sometimes took to get them. Everyone agreed that Margaret's distinctive talent lay in her ability to capture the "personality" of her subjects. In a field dominated by men, Margaret Bourke-White was rapidly making a name for herself.

By 1930, Margaret was working at Fortune Magazine. One of her earliest assignments was in the Soviet Union where she became the first Western photographer allowed to take pictures in that country. As a result of the trip, Margaret published her first book Eyes on Russia. Her striking and moving images of drought victims in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression of the 1930s brought her great acclaim. By 1935, she had joined the staff of the newly-created Life magazine. Her photograph of the Fort Peck Dam appeared on the cover of the first issue. Another image of African-American flood victims standing under a billboard picturing a happy white family with the caption "World's Highest Standard of Living-There's No Way Like the American Way" remains one of the most celebrated photographs of all time.

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