Margaret Bourke-White lived the life any photographer would want.
Throughout her career, she captured images of some of the most critical moments in history, from World War II and the Korean War to Soviet life under communism and sectarian violence during the India-Pakistan partition.
Over a long career as associate editor and staff photographer of Fortune magazine, in 1930 she became the first Western photographer allowed to take photographs of Soviet industry. She later became the first female photojournalist for Life magazine in 1936, where her photos were featured on the cover.
Bourke-White also became the first known female war correspondent and the first woman allowed to work in combat zones during World War II. She captured Moscow’s German invasion, Nazi concentration camps and a rare photo of Joseph Stalin smiling.
As she chronicled India and Pakistan’s partition violence, she interviewed and photographed Mohandas Gandhi just before his assassination in 1948.
Bourke-White also served as Life’s photographer during the Korean War until she was forced to pause her career due to illness in 1957.
Her work has been circulated among prolific art museums across the United States, from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the New Mexico Museum of Art.
Through Bourke-White’s lens, the world got a glimpse of the chaos of war and political change.
— Damare Baker
photo: Getty images