Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was one of the most famous photographers of the 20th Century.
Besides photography, Parks was also a prolific film maker, and author.
He is considered a modern-day renaissance man who exploited his creative talent to campaign for social justice and civil rights.
Early Life
Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, United States on November 30th, 1912.
He attended a segregated elementary school where African-Americans were not allowed to participate in extracurricular activities and were discouraged from pursuing tertiary education.
His mother died when he was 14 years old, causing him to leave home and stay with relatives. He later set off on his own and took odd jobs for a living.
A Prolific Photographer
Drawn to photography by images of migrant workers that he saw in a magazine, he bought a camera at the age of 25, and went on to train himself on how to use it.
In 1942 he won a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship due to his photographs chronicling the lives of African-Americans in Chicago’s impoverished south side. This resulted in him working with the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information as a photographer.
While working for these institutions, he took photographs that constantly spoke to the social and economic impact of poverty, racism, and other forms of discrimination. One of the most enduring images taken during this period is the American Gothic taken in 1942.
He went on to become the first African-American photographer for Life and Vogue magazines.
Filmmaker and Director
In 1969, Parks produced, directed and wrote the screenplay of the Learning Tree. This made him the first African American to direct a major Hollywood film.
He went on to direct Shaft, a major success that is credited for spurring the African-American action movie genre, and The Super Cops.
However, he was unsuccessful in his attempt to diverge from the Shaft series with Leadbelly. He left Hollywood and concentrated on making television films.
Author and Poet
His first book was The Learning Tree that was written in 1963. His other books include A Choice of Weapons, To Smile in Autumn, Voices in the Mirror, Shannon, and Arias in Silence.
He also authored poems such as A Poet and His Camera, Whispers of Intimate Things, In Love, Moments Without Proper Names, and Glimpses Toward Infinity.
Personal Life
Parks was married to Sally Alvis in 1933. They divorced in 1961. In 1962 he married Elizabeth Campbell who he divorced in 1973. He later married Genevieve Young. Young was the editor of his book, the Learning Tree.
Parks had four children who included the filmmaker Gordon Parks Jr. who died in a plane accident in 1979.
He was still actively evolving his style until March 7th, 2006 when he died of cancer aged 93 years. He is buried in Fort Scott, Kansas, where he was born.
By the time of his death, he was a recipient of over fifty honorary doctorates and numerous awards.
His works are the reason people in millennia will know what the 1930s were like and the things that shaped history at that time.
