1912-2006

Gordon Parks Used the Camera as a “Weapon” Against Poverty and Racism

Gordon Parks, was one of the greatest photographers of the twentieth century.  He was a humanitarian with a deep commitment to social justice. His photographs  documents American life and culture from the early 1940s into the 2000s, with a focus on race relations, poverty, civil rights, and urban life.  Parks was also a composer, author, and filmmaker.  His work continues to influence and inspire photographers of today.

2 min video History of Gordon Parks

CBS Interview History of Gordon Parks

Backgroud

• Gordon Parks grew up in segregation of Fort Scott, Kansas as the youngest of 15 kids
  • He bought his first a camera at a pawnshop, he taught himself how to use it.

 Career Beginnings

Photographer for FSA

• In 1942 he became a photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in Washington, D.C., and later, the Office of War Information (OWI)
  • Parks began by taking photos of life among poor African Americans on the South Side of Chicago

• It was during this period that he took his best-known photograph, American Gothic.
  • • The photo features an African American cleaning woman with a mop and broom, standing in front of an American flag.
      • It is a reference to a painting of the same name by an artist named Grant Wood.
        • American Gothic Washington DC is considered one of the 100 most influential photographs ever take

American Gothic Short Video

The Firsts

Life Magazine

• In 1949 Parks became the first African American to be a staff photographer for Life magazine.

Vogue Magazine

•  Parks was the first African American to be a  photographer for Vogue magazine

Activism Photography

•  Parks became known for his photos from African American life
  •  Civil Rights Movement, Racism and Poverty

Segregation in the South: Life magazine

• 1956 series Gordon Parks captured intimate images of Alabama with color photography
• The portraits depict rural African-American families against the backdrop of ‘coloured only’ public spaces
• By photographing in colour, Parks aesthetically liberates his subjects from the black/white segregationism of the Deep South.

Writer

• Gordon Parks published a number of books
  • The Learning Tree (1963) which he later made into a movie

• • Whispers of Intimate Things (1971) poetry-and-photo book

Film Director

• In the 1970s Parks directed a number of films including Shaft (1971) and Shaft’s Big Score! (1972).
  • Both of these films had a significant impact on films featuring African Americans.

• 2001 Shaft is a contemporary sequel to the 1971 Shaft film, in which Jackson plays the nephew of John Shaft