Born On This Day in 1912: Acclaimed Photographer & Director Gordon Parks

Parks, who taught himself photography with a used camera he bought for $7.50, led a life filled with firsts and major milestones, including shooting for Vogue and becoming the first Black photographer at Life magazine, where for two decades he documented the civil rights movement, race relations and urban life in America. 
He also was the first African-American to direct a film for a major studio when Warner Brothers produced the film version of his autobiographical novel The Learning Tree and later, Shaft, the first “Blaxploitation” action film.

His extraordinary talents were acknowledged with numerous awards, including the National Medal of Arts.

Scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. once described Parks as “the most important Black photographer in the history of photojournalism. Long after the events that he photographed have been forgotten, his images will remain with us, testaments to the genius of his art, transcending time, place and subject matter.”

article by Joyce Jones via bet.com