How did gordon parks die

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Gordon parks education

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Biography

Gordon Parks moved from his native Fort Scott, Kansas, to Minneapolis in 1928 and became a photographer in 1937 after seeing examples of Farm Security Administration photographs reproduced in a magazine. He was a fashion photographer in Minneapolis and Chicago, before going to Washington, DC and finding work with Roy Stryker at the FSA; he subsequently photographed for the Office of War Information and at the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. Parks worked as a fashion photographer at Vogue beginning in 1944, and when Life hired him as a staff photographer in 1948, he accepted assignments both in fashion and photojournalism. He remained at Life until 1970, producing many of his most important photo essays, such as those on Harlem gangs, segregation in the South, his own experiences with racism; on Flavio da Silva, a poor child living in Brazil; and on Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Black Panthers. Parks's many books include Camera Portraits (1943), A Choice of Weapons (1966), Born Black (1971), Moments Without Proper Names (1975), and Half Past Autumn

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“I was born dead”, recounts Gordon Parks in “Half Past Autumn”, a 2000 documentary about his life and career from HBO. He wasn’t kidding. The doctor and his sisters had to race to revive him, doing the trick by ice shock! His beginning was almost and end, and this theme stayed with him throughout his career as he pushed through one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after another on his way to “legendary”.

In an era where the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” is as cliché as “my two cents” (which is more than I’m getting paid for this seminal masterpiece) Gordon Parks used his camera to pen entire novels, composing narratives that spanned the complexities of the human condition. Sounds heavy. It was. Key to gaining that weight was Parks’ knack for finding the dramatic unseen in the dusky corridors of photojournalism. He went places no one else at the time dared to.

His journey from a self-taught photographer to a visionary who illuminated the pages of Vogue and the gritty streets of Harlem alike, stands as a testament to his ability to capture

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Gordon Parks

(1912-2006)

Who Was Gordon Parks?

Gordon Parks was a self-taught artist who became the first African American photographer for Life and Vogue magazines. He also pursued movie directing and screenwriting, working at the helm of the films The Learning Tree, based on a novel he wrote, and Shaft. Parks has published several memoirs and retrospectives as well, including A Choice of Weapons.

Early Life

Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was born on November 30, 1912, in Fort Scott, Kansas. His father, Jackson Parks, was a vegetable farmer, and the family lived modestly.

Parks faced aggressive discrimination as a child. He attended a segregated elementary school and was not allowed to participate in activities at his high school because of his race. The teachers actively discouraged African American students from seeking higher education. After the death of his mother, Sarah, when he was 14, Parks left home. He lived with relatives for a short time before setting off on his own, taking whatever odd jobs he could find.

Famed Photographer

Parks purchas