Gordon Parks (1912 - 2006) 

A self-taught photographer, Gordon Parks was the first African American on the staff of LIFE magazine and he was responsible for some of the most beautiful imagery in the pages of Vogue.  He extended himself beyond photography.  He was also a poet, musician, storyteller, filmmaker, and activist.  In 1971 he was the first Black director of a major film, Shaft, which helped shape the blaxploitation era in the 1970s.  In a 1999 interview with LIFE magazine, Parks said, "I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera."

February 16, 2021

Source:  O The Oprah Magazine, The Gordon Parks Foundation, The National Gallery of Art