Margaret Bourke-White- who was she, and what did she do for photography?

Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke White was born June 14th, 1904 in the Bronx, NY. Her father was an inventor as well as an engineer. He believed in educational equality, and opportunity for everyone. He was also somewhat of a camera enthusiast. He introduced Margaret to photography at a young age. Her mother was very kind and nurturing, and also attended school until she passed away.

Margaret attended many schools and universities all over the country, studying herpetology, which is the study of reptiles. During her schooling, she attended many prestigious universities such as Columbia University in New York, the University of Michigan, Purdue University in Indiana, Western Reserve University in Ohio, and eventually graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 1927. She was obviously well educated, and a very intelligent woman.

Photojournalism was still a very new idea in 1929, and she became the first female to be hired as one. She was hired by Fortune magazine in 1929. In 1930 she was the first Western woman allowed into the Soviet Union. She was hired as the first female photojournalist for Life Magazine in 1935, shortly after it was created. November 23, 1935, one of her photographs adorned the cover of the first magazine's first publication.

During WWII she became the first female war correspondent allowed in war zones, and the first to enter and document the death camps. She later put these photos into a book titled You Have Seen Their Faces, which is one of six books she published about her international travels and experiences.

Margaret Bourke-White died in Connecticut in August of 1971. She will always be remembered as the leader of the female photojournalist. She opened the doors for woman in so many different ways, and influenced many people with her photographs and the statements that they made.