Gordon Parks
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and film director, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particularly in issues of civil rights, poverty and African Americans—and in glamour photography. He is best remembered for his iconic photos of poor Americans during the 1940s (taken for a federal government project), for his photographic essays for Life magazine, and as the director of the films Shaft, Shaft's Big Score and the semiautobiographical The Learning Tree.
Gordon Parks | |
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Parks at the Civil Rights March on Washington, 1963 | |
| Born | Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks November 30, 1912 Fort Scott, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | March 7, 2006 (aged 93) Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Works | Life photographic essays Shaft The Learning Tree Solomon Northup's Odyssey A Choice of Weapons (memoir) |
| Children | Gordon Parks, Jr. David Parks Leslie Campbell Parks Toni Parks-Parsons |
| Awards | NAACP Image Award (2003) PGA Oscar Micheaux Award (1993) National Medal of Arts (1988) Spingarn Medal (1972) |
Parks was one of the first black American filmmakers to direct films within the Hollywood system, developing films relating the experience of slaves and struggling black Americans, and helping create the "blaxploitation" genre. The National Film Registry cites The Learning Tree as "the first feature film by a black director to be financed by a major Hollywood studio."