Gordon Parks (1912–2006,) fully Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks, was an American photographer, filmmaker, composer, and writer who shaped documentary photojournalism and African American representation in media. His multidisciplinary career made him one of the 20th century’s most influential artists.
Born in Fort Scott, Kansas, Parks grew up in poverty and faced racial discrimination. He discovered photography in the 1930s, buying a pawnshop camera and teaching himself. A Julius Rosenwald Fellowship (1942) led to work with the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later Life magazine, where he became its first African American staff photographer.
Parks documented civil rights struggles, poverty, and Black life in America, producing iconic images like American Gothic (1942.) He later transitioned to filmmaking, directing The Learning Tree (1969,) the first major Hollywood film by a Black director, and Shaft (1971,) which helped define the blaxploitation genre.
His literary works include A Choice of Weapons (1966,) To Smile in Autumn (1979,) and Voices in the Mirror (1990,) reflecting on his life and activism. His novel The Learning Tree (1963) was adapted into his groundbreaking film.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Gordon Parks
Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.
—Gordon Parks
Topics: Enthusiasm
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