The first African-American photographer hired at Life and Vogue magazines, Gordon Parks was a prolific photographer, writer, composer and filmmaker. His photo essays that he produced primarily for LIFE magazine from the 1940s to 1970s focused on issues related to poverty, race, segregation and life of African Americans.
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, musician, writer 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.
As the first famous pioneer among black filmmakers, he was the first African American to produce and direct major motion pictures—developing films relating the experience of slaves and struggling black Americans, and creating the “blaxploitation” genre. 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 1971 film Shaft. Parks also was an author, poet and composer.
Books and more…………
Gordon Parks : how the photographer captured black and white America
The photographs of Gordon Parks
The learning tree [videorecording]
Half past autumn [videorecording] : the life and works of Gordon Parks
WEBSITES:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gordon-Parks
https://www.bing.com/search?q=gordon+parks&FORM=HDRSC1#
http://time.com/4200148/gordon-parks-photographs-black-humanity/
http://time.com/search/?q=GORDON+PARKS
VIDEOS:
http://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/
“There’s another horizon out there, one more horizon that you have to make for yourself and let other people discover it, and someone else will take it further on, you know.”