Gordon Parks was the first African American on the staff of LIFE magazine, and. Later, he captured some of the most beautiful photographs published in Vogue. He was the first Black director of any major film, Shaft. Parks famously told LIFE in 1999: "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."
Quick Facts:
Born: November 30, 1912
Fort Scott, Kansas, U.S.
Died: March 7, 2006 (aged 93)
Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Works:
Life (photographic essays)
A Choice of Weapons (memoir)
Children:
Leslie Campbell Parks
Toni Parks-Parsons
Awards:
NAACP Image Award (2003)
PGA Oscar Micheaux Award (1993)
National Medal of Arts (1988)
Spingarn Medal (1972)
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