Gordon ParksAmerican photographer, filmmaker, writer, and
composer Born: Nov. 30, 1912 Birthplace: Fort Scott, Kansas Best
known as an acclaimed photographer, Gordon Parks was also a
highly accomplished writer, filmmaker, and composer. Growing up
in poverty, Parks managed to become a premier fashion
photographer in the 1940s, eventually working for Glamour,
Vogue, and other glossy New York magazines. He became the first
African American to work as a photographer for the Farm Security
Administration, where he developed his powerful documentary
style depicting slums, poverty, and the marginal existences of
African Americans. Of his photography work for the FSA, he
commented, “I had known poverty firsthand, but there I learned
how to fight its evil--along with the evil of racism—with a
camera.” In 1948, he became a photographer for Life
magazine—their first African American photographer-—and worked
for Life over the next quarter century. His celebrated
photojournalism included portrayals of Harlem gang warfare,