Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, 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. He is best remembered for his iconic photos of poor Americans during the 1940s, for his photographic essays for Life magazine, and as the director of the films Shaft, Shaft's Big Score and the semiautobiographical The Learning Tree.
Parks at the Civil Rights March on Washington, 1963
American Gothic, Washington, D.C. – a well-known photograph by Parks
A later photograph in the FSA series, by Parks, shows Ella Watson and her family.
Gordon Parks next to his piano, photograph by David Finn (late 1980s)
Life is an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, a monthly from 1978 until 2000, and an online supplement since 2008. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, Life was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography, and was one of the nation's most popular magazines, regularly reaching one-quarter of the population.
A cover of Life magazine in 1911
Cover of the June 19, 1944, issue of Life with Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. The issue contained 10 frames by Robert Capa of the Normandy invasion.
Cover art by Coles Phillips in the magazine's January 27, 1910 edition
The cover of the magazine's January 24, 1924 issue