Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks was an American photographer, filmmaker, writer, and composer whose work documented Black American life and the civil rights movement.
His 1948 photo essay on a Harlem gang leader launched his career at *Life* magazine.
Parks directed *Shaft* (1971), helping establish the blaxploitation genre, and wrote the autobiographical novel *The Learning Tree*.
One who leads
- filmmakerOne who makes movies
- screenplayFilm's written blueprint
- HollywoodAmerican film industry center
- blaxploitationSeventies Black action cinema
cinematography · producer · feature · soundtrack · score · premiere · studio · adaptation
Image capturing device
- lensLight-focusing curved glass
- portraitArtistic depiction of someone
- exposureState of being unprotected
- shutterHinged window covering
film · darkroom · aperture · focus · negative · monochrome · composition · framing
Improvisational American music genre
- bluesMournful American music genre
- Louis ArmstrongPioneering jazz trumpeter, singer
- Bessie SmithLegendary blues vocalist
- Cotton ClubLegendary Harlem jazz venue
Langston Hughes · Duke Ellington · Apollo Theater · migration · Harlem · artistic movement · literary · musical
Guaranteed individual legal protections
- equalitySame status for all
- dignityInnate personal worth
- racismPrejudice based on ethnicity
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
poverty · segregation · injustice · advocacy · protest · social reform · empowerment · humanist
Arranged elements forming whole
- visionAbility to see
- creativityCapacity for original thought
- expressionConveyed thought or feeling
- aestheticsTheory of beauty
portraiture · fashion · Vogue · glamour · beauty · style · elegance · innovation
Self-penned life narrative
- narrativeAccount of events
- chronicleOrdered historical record
- childhoodLife's earliest phase
- KansasCentral American plains state
poverty · reflection · storytelling · legacy · personal history · journey · resilience
director
One who leads
- filmmakerOne who makes movies
- screenplayFilm's written blueprint
- HollywoodAmerican film industry center
blaxploitation · cinematography · producer · feature · soundtrack · score · premiere · studio · adaptation · pioneering
camera
Image capturing device
- lensLight-focusing curved glass
- portraitArtistic depiction of someone
- exposureState of being unprotected
shutter · film · darkroom · aperture · focus · negative · monochrome · composition · framing · candid
jazz
Improvisational American music genre
- bluesMournful American music genre
- Louis ArmstrongPioneering jazz trumpeter, singer
- Bessie SmithLegendary blues vocalist
Langston Hughes · Duke Ellington · Cotton Club · Apollo Theater · migration · Harlem · artistic movement · literary · musical
civil rights
Guaranteed individual legal protections
discrimination · poverty · segregation · injustice · advocacy · protest · social reform · empowerment · humanist · witness
composition
Arranged elements forming whole
- visionAbility to see
- creativityCapacity for original thought
- expressionConveyed thought or feeling
aesthetics · portraiture · fashion · Vogue · glamour · beauty · style · elegance · innovation · multidisciplinary
autobiography
Self-penned life narrative
Kansas · poverty · reflection · storytelling · legacy · personal history · journey · resilience