Gordon Parks was born in 1912 in Kansas and faced discrimination and poverty as a Black man growing up during segregation. After seeing photographs of migrant workers that inspired him, he bought his first camera at age 25. His photographs caught the attention of influential figures and publications, leading to success as the first African American staff photographer for Life magazine. Throughout his career, Parks explored issues of civil rights, poverty, and race through photojournalism, influencing perceptions despite facing biases. His determination to create change through his photography continues to inspire.

1. Gordan Parks

2. Image Source: Gordon Parks: Visionary Videos: NVLP:
African American History (visionaryproject.org)
Image By: Visonary project
Gordan Parks was born on November 30, 1912 in Fort Scott
Kansas. Growing up was not easy for Gordon giving that he grew up in a
time when segregation and discrimination still heavily existed.
According to https://www.biography.com/artist/gordon-parks He faced
constant discrimination as a child, and was not able to participate in
his schools activities because of his race. After his mother passed
when he was only 14 years old, Gordon went on to live with relatives
while working for any jobs he could find.

3. Image Source: Progressive Black Men and Women |
Sports, Hip Hop & Piff - The Coli
Image By: The Coli
Gordan Parks bought his fisrt camera at the age of 25 which came after he
was viewing photographs of migrant workers in the magazine. He became
discovered after his earlier photos caught the attention of boxing champion Joe
Louis's wife Marva Louis. Marva encourage Gordon to move to a more bigger
city so he and his wife moved to chicago in 1940. This is when Gordons work
started to become more and more popular which ultimately led to his success
and stardom. He later on became the first African American photograher for Life
and Vogue magazine.

4. Career Path
Gordon Parks worked for a lot of people in his career but his most famous employeers were Vogue
and life magazine. Vogue was Gordon's first fashion magazine and then he went on to work for Life
magazine. According to Gordon Parks Biography, Life & Quotes | TheArtStory "Gordan Parks
"published his first major photo essay in Life Magazine in 1948. The photo essays success won Parks
a position as the first African American staff photographer for Life Magazine, the most prominent
illustrated magazine in the world." Working for two of the top most famous magazines caused his
work to be disseminated all across the world. His work spread across the globe which helped build his
career.
Image Source: Gordon
Parks Fashion
Photography at Jack
Shainman Gallery |
Vogue
Images By: Gordon Parks

5. Era
Gordon Parks grew up in an era where segregation and discrimination was still
existent. It was hard for an African American in those times yet alone an African
American Photojournalist. Gordon was not given the same opputunities that the
other kids had. With the little oppurtunities he did have he took them and turned
into one of the worlds most famous photojournalist/photographer. Photojournalism
was not very popular in the 1920s and 30s with African Americans. There were not a
lot of African Americans in the profession which made it harder for Gordon to
succeed. He found a way and took advantage of every opportunity he had which led
him to become the first African American photographer for Life and Vogue
Magazines.

6. Motivation
When Parks was 25 he seen photos in a magazine of
migrant workers. These pictures included the
horrible working conditions these migrant workers
had to endure both socially and economically.
According to Gordon Parks Photography
(nga.gov) " For Parks, images of dust bowl migrants
reminded him of his own struggles and inspired
him to purchase his first camera, a life-changing
decision. He later recalled, “I was convinced of the
power of a good picture.” Parks lived in poverty
when he was younger and did not have the
greatest childhood so seeing these pictures of these
workers working in horrific working conditions was
a huge motivation to him to seek change.
Image Source: Dorothea Lange |
"Migrant Mother" Photo Series at the
Library of Congress | American
Masters | PBS
Images By: Dorothea Lange
Photos of the
migrant
workers found
in the
magazines

7. Technology
Gordon parks used a variety of different cameras to
capture his photographs. According to Master
Profiles: Gordon Parks - Shooter Files by f.d.
walker "For his first camera, he went into a pawn
shop in Seattle, Washington and bought a
Voigtlander Brilliant for $12.50. He was later known
to use a range of cameras, including a Rolleiflex TLR
and the Nikon F line of cameras, which seem to be
what he used more often than any." Techology back
then was not how it is now. Now we have cameras
that are more advanced and these cameras allow you
to do way more such as editing and taking more
clearer pictures. The Rolleiflex TLR camera was very
well built especially for a camera made in the 1900s.
It allowed Gordon to take more clearer and better
quality pictures which is always a plus. Being a
photojournalist means that the quality of your
pictures is very important so its important to have a
good camera to do so.
Image Sorce: Gordon Parks
Photography (nga.gov)
Image By: Gordon Parks

8. Ethics
Being a Black African American man in the
1900s was difficult. An ethical dilemma African
Americans had to go through but specifically
Gordon Parks was segregation and racism.
Rasicm and discrimination was a major issue
when Gordon Parks was growing up.
Everything was still segregated between whites
and blacks. It was very difficult to succeed
around those times being African American.
Everything and everyone was against. The idea
that an African American could become
successful around those times were slim to
none. This was a huge dilemma Gordan had to
face on his rise to fame.
Image Source: Jim Crow
law | History, Facts, &
Examples | Britannica
Image By: Esther Bubley

9. Gordon Parks embarked on a six week journey photographing black neighborhoods in Los
Angeles, Chicago, New York and San Fransico. He went on this journey to explore crime across
America. According to How the photographer Gordon Parks upended stereotypes of policing
and crime in America | The Art Newspaper "The series, when published, exposed mainstream
understandings of black poverty, marginalisation and, crucially, how black citizens were treated
by US police. They served to counteract enduring media stereotypes of black criminality,
forcing Life’s readers to reassess their beliefs about an experience that even today garners little
attention in US media." This project caused a ton of Bias against Gordons work with the
mainstream media and other people across the nation.
Biases
Image Source: How the
photographer Gordon
Parks upended
stereotypes of policing
and crime in America |
The Art Newspaper
Image By: Gordon Parks

10. Photographic Style
Image Source: Gordon Parks Untitled
Harlem New York 1948 | Art Blart
Images By: Gordan Parks
First photo: Gordon uses Keep it Simple and In or out of focus. Although there is more than one subject in the photo they are
all doing the same thing which makes the photo quite simple. Also the photo is very in focus which helps you concetrate on
just the main subjects and allows you to see the action going on in the photo clearly. Second Photo: In the second photo Gordon
uses Rule of Thirds and Obvious main subject. Although there are 4 people in the photo the obvious main subjects are located
right in the center. With them in the center you can clearly see that they are fighting. With Rule of Thirds the main subjects
appear to be in the middle but if you closely look you can see they are located more towards the right of the photo. I think
Gordon intented to put them more towards the right but but not too much so they can still be seen. Third photo: Texture and
Background Compliments. The texture of the photo appears to be very smooth which allows you to see everything in the photo
very clearly. There are cars and building in the background but they do not take the attention away from the main subjects.
Fourth Photo: Is the picture in black and white and Subjects Expression. Yes the picture is in black and white which helps
create the mood of the photo. The subject expression is kind of plain and bland. He has a very simple look on his face, like he
is not showing any type of emotion through his facial expression.

11. Impact
Gordon Parks had a huge impact on society. To grow up in poverty and not having much
to becoming one of the worlds most famous photojournalist is amazing. Seeing all that
he accomplished especially in a world full of rasicm and discrimination, being an
African American definitely impacted me. Gordon Parks gives me hope that we can
accomplish anything we put our minds to. The sky is the limit and I learned from
Gordon that anything is possibe when you are determined and work hard.
Major at Aic
The aspect of Gordon wanting to seek change throughout his career is similar to why im
choosing to become an Occupational Therapist. Gordon started photojournalism because
he wanted to seek change in the migrant workers working conditions socially and
economically. I chose to become an Occupational Therapist because I want to also seek
change in others. I want my patients to change for the better. I want all of their
physical problems to not be problems anymore. I want to help them get better and feel
better similar to what Gordon wanted for the workers.

12. Viewpoints
Gordon Parks received a lot of love and hate throughout his career. As
with everybody your going to have people in life who absolutely admire
you and some who truly hate you and eveything you do. A lot of Gordon
Parks work was focused on civil rights, poverty, race relations, and
urban life. Some people liked how he was focusing on those issues and
some did not and believed that he should be focusing on other things. In
life you are always going to have people who cheer you on and people
who want to see you fail. What you do with that information determines
your future. Gordon took in the love and the hate and created nothing
but positve out of it. He broke barriers that people would of never seen
coming. He is truly magnificent and an inspiration to many including
myself.

13. Image
Source: Photography
Archive - The Gordon
Parks Foundation
Images By: Gordon Parks