In Remembrance: Gordon Parks

     Gordon Parks, the Life magazine photographer turned director of the classics The Learning Tree (1969) and Shaft (1971), has passed away on March 7, 2006 in New York City, New York. He was 93.

     Born on November 30, 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansasa, Parks dropped out of high school following the death of his mother at age 15. A self-taught piano player, he briefly held a job entertaining in a St. Paul, Minnesota bordello before managed to join a touring big band. When the group broke up a year later, he spent some time in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Parks bought his first camera in 1937 and by 1940 had begun working as a professional photographer. After working for Office of War Information during World War II, Parks worked as a freelanc photographer, contributing to magazines such as Vogue and Life. Following a 1948 photo-essay on gang life in Harlem, Parks was hired full time by Life where often worked on stories dealing with social issues.

     Parks first film was the 1964 documentary short Flavio, a follow-up to his 1961 Life photo-essay about a poor Rio de Janeiro couple whose son was dying of bronchial asthma and malnutrition. After the Life story was published, public donations and an offer for free medical treatment at the Denver Children’s Asthma Research Institute helped save the boy’s life.

     After a second documentary, 1968’s The World Of Piri Thomas, Parks would become the first black director of a major studio motion picture with the drama The Learning Tree. The film, which Parks also scripted, was based on his semi-autobiographical novel racism in a small 1920s Kansas town. The Learning Tree was one of the first 25 films to be named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1989.

     In 1971, Parks produced and directed Shaft. Starring Richard Roundtree as the suave private eye John Shaft, the film is credited along with Melvin Van Peebles' Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song (1971) with creating the blaxploitation genre. The film was an immediate success, spawning both fashion trends among its predominately urban audiences and numerous imitations. Parks also directed the first of two Shaft sequels – Shaft’s Big Score (1972) – and the comedy The Super Cops (1974).

     Sometimes described as a Renaissance man, Parks has also written a number of books and helped to found Essence magazine. He has also written several music compositions including the scores to The Learning Tree and Shaft’s Big Score.

     His last film was the 1976 bio-pic Leadbelly, chronicling the life of Blues guitarist Huddie Leadbetter.