Gordon Parks

Who Was Gordon Parks?

Gordon Parks was a pioneering self-taught artist renowned for being the first African American photographer for Life and Vogue magazines. He also ventured into film directing and screenwriting, most notably helming The Learning Tree, based on his own novel, and the influential film Shaft. Parks authored several memoirs and retrospectives, including the acclaimed A Choice of Weapons.

Early Life

Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was born on November 30, 1912, in Fort Scott, Kansas. Raised in a modest household by his father, Jackson Parks, a vegetable farmer, Parks encountered systemic discrimination from a young age. He attended a segregated elementary school and faced significant barriers during high school, where teachers discouraged African American students from pursuing higher education. Following the death of his mother, Sarah, when he was 14, Parks left home to live with relatives briefly before venturing out independently, taking on various odd jobs.

Famed Photographer

At the age of 25, Parks purchased his first camera after being inspired by images of migrant workers in a magazine. His early fashion photography gained the attention of Marva Louis, wife of boxing champion Joe Louis, prompting him to relocate to Chicago in 1940.

In Chicago, Parks expanded his focus beyond portraits and fashion, turning his lens towards the low-income Black neighborhoods of the South Side. In 1941, he won a photography fellowship with the Farm Security Administration (FSA), capturing some of his most enduring images, including the iconic American Gothic, Washington, D.C., which features a member of the FSA cleaning crew in front of an American flag. After the FSA disbanded, he continued to work for the Office of War Information and the Standard Oil Photography Project, and later became a freelance photographer for Vogue, where he developed a distinctive style that emphasized the dynamism of models and garments.

After relocating to Harlem, Parks documented urban life while continuing his work in fashion. His 1948 photographic essay on a Harlem gang leader led to a staff photographer position at LIFE magazine, where he served for 20 years. During this period, he produced a vast array of photographs covering fashion, sports, entertainment, and social issues, including poverty and racial segregation. He also captured portraits of prominent African American leaders such as Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, and Muhammad Ali.

Parks launched his writing career during this time, publishing his autobiographical novel, The Learning Tree, in 1962. Over his lifetime, he authored several books, including memoirs, works of fiction, and volumes on photographic techniques.

Filmmaker

In 1969, Parks became the first African American to direct a major Hollywood film, adapting The Learning Tree into a screenplay and composing the score. His subsequent film, Shaft, released in 1971, became a significant box-office success, helping to establish the blaxploitation genre. The film starred Richard Roundtree as detective John Shaft and featured an Academy Award-winning theme song by Isaac Hayes. Parks also directed a sequel, Shaft’s Big Score, in 1972. However, his later attempt to diverge from the Shaft series with the 1976 film Leadbelly was less successful. After this, he focused on television films and did not return to Hollywood.

Death and Legacy

Gordon Parks passed away from cancer on March 7, 2006, in New York City and was laid to rest in his hometown of Fort Scott, Kansas. Today, he is celebrated for his groundbreaking contributions to photography and film, serving as an enduring source of inspiration. Parks famously stated, “People in millenniums ahead will know what we were like in the 1930s and the important major things that shaped our history at that time. This is as important for historic reasons as any other.”

Personal Life

Parks was married and divorced three times. He first married Sally Alvis in 1933, and they divorced in 1961. His second marriage was to Elizabeth Campbell in 1962, which ended in divorce in 1973. Parks then married Genevieve Young, whom he met while she was editing his book The Learning Tree. They divorced in 1979. Parks was also romantically linked to railroad heiress Gloria Vanderbilt for several years. He had four children, including filmmaker Gordon Parks Jr., who tragically died in a plane crash in Kenya in 1979.