84-398: Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and filmmaker, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particularly in issues of civil rights, poverty and African Americans—and in glamour photography . He is best remembered for his iconic photos of poor Americans during
168-552: A Voigtländer Brillant , for $ 12.50 at a Seattle, Washington, pawnshop and taught himself how to take photos. The photography clerks who developed Parks's first roll of film applauded his work and prompted him to seek a fashion assignment at a women's clothing store in St. Paul, Minnesota, owned by Frank Murphy. Those photographs caught the eye of Marva Louis, wife of heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis . She encouraged Parks and his wife, Sally Alvis, to move to Chicago in 1940, where he began
252-977: A 1981 exhibition at Alex Rosenberg Gallery in New York titled "Gordon Parks: Expansions: The Aesthetic Blend of Painting and Photography." In 1970, Parks helped found Essence magazine, and served as its editorial director during the first three years of its circulation. Parks was married and divorced three times. His first two wives, comprising almost 40 years of marriage, were Black. He married Sally Alvis in Minneapolis in 1933 and they divorced in 1961, after more than 25 years. In 1962, he married Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of cartoonist E. Simms Campbell , and they divorced in 1973. Parks first met Chinese-American editor Genevieve Young (stepdaughter of Chinese diplomat Wellington Koo ) in 1962 when he began writing The Learning Tree . At that time, his publisher assigned her to be his editor. They became romantically involved at
336-1070: A CHA policy of construction of family housing only in black residential areas, concentrated on the South and West Sides. Historian Arnold R. Hirsch said the CHA was "a bulwark of segregation that helped sustain Chicago's 'second ghetto'". Gentrification of parts of the Douglas community area has bolstered the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District . Gentrification in various parts of the South Side has displaced many black citizens. The South Side offers numerous housing cooperatives . Hyde Park has several middle-income co-ops and other South Side regions have limited equity (subsidized, price-controlled) co-ops. These regions experienced condominium construction and conversion in
420-611: A biographical film of the blues musician Huddie Ledbetter . In the 1980s, he made several films for television and composed the music and a libretto for Martin , a ballet tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. , which premiered in Washington, D.C., during 1989. It was screened on national television on King's birthday in 1990. In 2000, as an homage, he had a cameo appearance in the Shaft sequel that starred Samuel L. Jackson in
504-577: A black woman, Ella Watson, who worked on the cleaning crew of the FSA building, standing stiffly in front of an American flag hanging on the wall, a broom in one hand and a mop in the background. Parks had been inspired to create the image after encountering racism repeatedly in restaurants and shops in the segregated capital city. Upon viewing the photograph, Stryker said that it was an indictment of America, and that it could get all of his photographers fired. He urged Parks to keep working with Watson, which led to
588-501: A broad array of cultural and social offerings, such as professional sports teams, landmark buildings, museums, educational institutions, medical institutions, beaches, and major parts of Chicago's parks system. The South Side has numerous bus routes and 'L' train lines via the Chicago Transit Authority , it hosts Midway International Airport , and includes several Metra rail commuter lines. There are portions of
672-442: A definite natural or artificial boundary. One source states that the boundary is Western Avenue or the railroad tracks adjacent to Western Avenue. This border extends further south to a former railroad right of way paralleling Beverly Avenue and then Interstate 57 . The Southwest Side of Chicago is a subsection of the South Side comprising mainly white, black, and Hispanic neighborhoods, usually dominated by one of these races. On
756-470: A few ducks, chickens, and hogs. He attended a segregated elementary school. His high school had both black people and white people, because the town was too small for segregated high schools, but black students were not allowed to play sports or attend school social activities, and they were discouraged from developing aspirations for higher education. Parks related in a documentary on his life that his teacher told him that his desire to go to college would be
840-497: A former company town, Hyde Park Township, various platted communities and subdivisions were the results of such efforts. The Union Stock Yards , which were once located in the New City community area (#61), at one point employed 25,000 people and produced 82 percent of US domestic meat production. They were so synonymous with the city that for over a century they were part of the lyrics of Frank Sinatra 's " My Kind of Town ", in
924-656: A large part of the housing supply during and after the Great Depression , especially in the "Black Belt". The South Side had a history of philanthropic subsidized housing dating back to 1919. The United States Congress passed the Housing Act of 1949 to fund and improve public housing. CHA produced a plan of citywide projects, which was rejected by the Chicago City Council 's white aldermen who opposed public housing in their wards. This led to
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#17327809307471008-568: A larger city of Chicago. Lake View, Jefferson, Lake, Hyde Park Townships and the Austin portion of Cicero voted to be annexed by the city in the June 29, 1889, elections. After the Civil War freed millions of slaves, during Reconstruction black southerners migrated to Chicago and caused the black population to nearly quadruple from 4,000 to 15,000 between 1870 and 1890. In the 20th century,
1092-481: A place of political controversy. Although the locations of some of these notable controversies have not become official landmarks, they remain important parts of Chicago history. The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 was the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the Red Summer of 1919 and required 6,000 National Guard troops. As mentioned above, segregation has been a political theme of controversy for some time on
1176-579: A portrait business and specialized in photographs of society women. Parks's photographic work in Chicago, especially in capturing the myriad experiences of African Americans across the city, led him to receive the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship, in 1942, paying him $ 200 a month and offering him his choice of employer, which, in turn, contributed to being asked to join the Farm Security Administration (FSA), which
1260-632: A result, much of the downtown "Loop" district is south of Madison Street, and the river, but the Loop is usually excluded from any of the Sides. One definition has the South Side beginning at Roosevelt Road , at the Loop's southern boundary, with the community area known as the Near South Side immediately adjacent. Another definition, taking into account that much of the Near South Side
1344-527: A series of photographs of her daily life. Parks said later that his first image was overdone and not subtle; other commentators have argued that it drew strength from its polemical nature and its duality of victim and survivor, and thus affected far more people than his subsequent pictures of Mrs. Watson. (Parks's overall body of work for the federal government—using his camera "as a weapon"—would draw far more attention from contemporaries and historians than that of all other black photographers in federal service at
1428-427: A time when they both were divorcing previous spouses, and married in 1973. This was his shortest marriage, lasting only six years. It ended in divorce in 1979. Parks was in a long term relationship with Gloria Vanderbilt until his death in 2006. Parks had four children by his first two wives: Gordon, Jr., David, Leslie, and Toni (Parks-Parsons). His oldest son Gordon Parks, Jr. , whose talents resembled his father's,
1512-485: A waste of money. When Parks was 11 years old, three white boys threw him into the Marmaton River , believing he couldn't swim . He had the presence of mind to duck underwater so they wouldn't see him make it to land. His mother died when he was fourteen. He spent his last night at the family home sleeping beside his mother's coffin, seeking not only solace, but a way to face his own fear of death. Soon after, he
1596-579: Is a cornerstone of the city's Chinese community. The South Side offers many outdoor amenities, such as miles of public lakefront parks and beaches, as it borders Lake Michigan on its eastern side. Today's South Side is mostly a combination of the former Hyde Park and Lake Townships. Within these townships many had made speculative bets on future prosperity. Much of the South Side evolved from these speculative investments. Stephen A. Douglas , Paul Cornell , George Pullman and various business entities developed South Chicago real estate. The Pullman District ,
1680-1083: Is along Roosevelt Road , is the tallest building on the South Side. One Museum Park West , which is next door to One Museum Park, is another of Chicago's tallest . 1700 East 56th Street in Hyde Park is the tallest building south of 13th Street. This neighborhood hosts several other highrises. Many landmark buildings are found in the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District, including Powhatan Apartments , Robie House and John J. Glessner House . The South Side has many of Chicago's premier places of worship such as Eighth Church of Christ, Scientist , First Church of Deliverance and K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple . The South Side has several landmark districts including two in Barack Obama 's Kenwood community area: Kenwood District , North Kenwood District and (partially) Hyde Park-Kenwood Historic District . The South Side hosts
1764-705: Is in effect part of the commercial district extending in an unbroken line from the South Loop, locates the boundary immediately south of 18th Street or Cermak Road , where Chinatown in the Armour Square community area begins. Lake Michigan and the Indiana state line provide eastern boundaries. The southern border changed over time because of Chicago's evolving city limits. The city limits are now at 138th Street, in Riverdale and Hegewisch . The South Side
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#17327809307471848-616: Is larger in area than the North and West Sides combined. Out of 77 community areas in the city, the South Side of Chicago comprises a total of 42 neighborhoods, with some divided into different regions of the area or consolidated into Chicago as part of the annexation of various townships within Cook County . The exact boundaries dividing the Southwest, South, and Southeast Sides vary by source. If primarily racial lines are followed,
1932-499: Is located on the South Side. Among the highways through the South Side are I-94 (which goes by the names Dan Ryan Expressway , Bishop Ford Freeway and Kingery Expressway on the South Side), I-90 (which goes by the names Dan Ryan Expressway and Chicago Skyway on the South Side), I-57 , I-55 , U.S. 12 , U.S. 20 and U.S. 41 . Several Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus and train lines and Metra train lines link
2016-864: Is located on the Southwest Side of the city, as are Beverly and Morgan Park , home to a large concentration of Irish Americans . With its factories, steel mills and meat-packing plants, the South Side saw a sustained period of immigration which began around the 1840s and continued through World War II . Irish , Italian , Polish , Lithuanian and Yugoslav immigrants, in particular, settled in neighborhoods adjacent to industrial zones. The Illinois Constitution gave rise to townships that provided municipal services in 1850. Several settlements surrounding Chicago incorporated as townships to better serve their residents. Growth and prosperity overburdened many local government systems. In 1889, most of these townships determined that they would be better off as part of
2100-539: Is one of the three major sections of the city of Chicago , Illinois, United States. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sections of the city, with the other two being the North and West Sides . It radiates and lies south of the city's downtown area, the Chicago Loop . Much of the South Side came from the city's annexation of townships such as Hyde Park . The city's Sides have historically been divided by
2184-543: The Beverly neighborhood along Western Avenue each year on the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day . The parade, which was founded in 1979, was at one time said to be the largest Irish neighborhood St. Patrick's celebration in the world outside of Dublin , Ireland , and was—until being scaled back in 2012—actually larger than Chicago's other St. Patrick's Day parade in the Loop. The South Side parade became such an event that it
2268-464: The Chicago Imagists . Music in Chicago flourished, with musicians bringing blues and gospel influences up from the South and creating a Chicago sound in blues and jazz that the city is still renowned for. The South Side was known for its R&B acts and the city as a while had successful rock acts. Many major and independent record companies had a presence in Chicago. In 1948, Blues
2352-642: The Chicago Landmark KAM Isaiah Israel . The Southwest Side's ethnic makeup also includes the largest concentration of Gorals ( Carpathian highlanders) outside of Europe; it is the location of the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America . A large Mexican-American population resides in Little Village (South Lawndale) and areas south of 99th Street. The South Side Irish Parade occurs in
2436-540: The Chicago River and its branches. The South Side of Chicago was originally defined as all of the city south of the main branch of the Chicago River, but it now excludes the Loop. The South Side has a varied ethnic composition and a great variety of income levels and other demographic measures. It has a reputation for crime, although most crime is contained within certain neighborhoods, not throughout
2520-525: The Museum of Science and Industry , located in the Palace of Fine Arts, one of the few remaining buildings from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition , which was hosted in South Side. The South Side is the residence of other prominent black leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan . It is also where U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush , a former Black Panther leader, serves. The South Side has been
2604-878: The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. The Learning Tree was one of the original group of 25 films first selected by the LOC for the National Film Registry. Photojournalism Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.227 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 205021844 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:02:10 GMT South Side, Chicago The South Side
Gordon Parks - Misplaced Pages Continue
2688-500: The " blaxploitation " genre. The National Film Registry cites The Learning Tree as "the first feature film by a black director to be financed by a major Hollywood studio." Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kansas , the son of Andrew Jackson Parks and Sarah Ross, on November 30, 1912. He was the youngest of 15 children. His father was a farmer who grew corn, beets, turnips, potatoes, collard greens, and tomatoes. They also had
2772-479: The 1940s (taken for a federal government project), for his photographic essays for Life magazine, and as the director of the films Shaft , Shaft's Big Score and the semiautobiographical The Learning Tree . Parks was one of the first black American filmmakers to direct films within the Hollywood system, developing films relating the experience of slaves and struggling black Americans, and helping create
2856-473: The 1940s. Other four-year educational institutions there are the Illinois Institute of Technology , St. Xavier University , Chicago State University , Illinois College of Optometry and Shimer College . The South Side also hosts community colleges such as Olive-Harvey College , Kennedy-King College and Richard J. Daley College . Chicago Public Schools operates the public schools on
2940-511: The 1970s and 1980s. In the late 20th century, the South Side had some of the poorest housing conditions in the U.S., but the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) began replacing the old high-rise public housing with mixed-income , lower-density developments, part of the city's Plan for Transformation. Many of the CHA's massive public housing projects, which lined several miles of South State Street, have been demolished. Among
3024-465: The 1970s gangs returned to violence and the drug trade. By 2000, traditionally all-male gangs crossed gender lines to include about 20% females. By the 1930s, the city of Chicago boasted that over 25% of its residential structures were less than 10 years old, many of which were bungalows . These continued to be built in the working-class South Side into the 1960s. Studio apartments , with Murphy beds and kitchenettes or Pullman kitchens , comprised
3108-618: The Bronzeville neighborhood, through the main portion of the South Side. Neighborhood rehabilitation, and in some cases, gentrification, can be seen in parts of Washington Park , Woodlawn (#42) and Bronzeville, as well as in Bridgeport and McKinley Park. Historic Pullman 's redevelopment is another example of a work in progress. Chinatown is located on the South Side and has seen a surge in growth. It has become an increasingly popular destination for both tourists and locals alike and
3192-529: The Dan Ryan divided Daley's own neighborhood, the traditionally Irish Bridgeport, from Bronzeville. The economic conditions that led to migration into the South Side were not sustained. Mid-century industrial restructuring in meat packing and the steel industry cost many jobs. Blacks who became educated and achieved middle-class jobs also left after the Civil Rights Movement to other parts of
3276-461: The FSA as a trainee under Roy Stryker, Parks created one of his best-known photographs, American Gothic, Washington, D.C . , named after the iconic Grant Wood painting American Gothic —a legendary painting of a traditional, stoic, white American farmer and daughter—which bore a striking, but ironic, resemblance to the Parks photograph of a black menial laborer. Parks's "haunting" photograph shows
3360-532: The Minnesota Club. There he observed the trappings of success and was able to read many books from the club library. When the Wall Street Crash of 1929 brought an end to the club, he jumped a train to Chicago, where he managed to land a job in a flophouse . Photography At the age of twenty-eight, Parks was struck by photographs of migrant workers in a magazine. He bought his first camera,
3444-502: The Mirror (1990), and A Hungry Heart (2005). In 1981, Parks turned to fiction with Shannon , a novel about Irish immigrants fighting their way up the social ladder in turbulent early 20th-century New York. Parks's writing accomplishments include novels, poetry, autobiography, and non-fiction, including both photographic instructional manuals and books about filmmaking. Parks's photography-related abstract oil paintings were showcased in
Gordon Parks - Misplaced Pages Continue
3528-725: The O.W.I. He would later follow Stryker to the Standard Oil Photography Project in New Jersey, which assigned photographers to take pictures of small towns and industrial centers. The most striking work by Parks during that period included, Dinner Time at Mr. Hercules Brown's Home, Somerville, Maine (1944); Grease Plant Worker, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1946); Car Loaded with Furniture on Highway (1945); Self Portrait (1945); and Ferry Commuters, Staten Island, N.Y. (1946). Commercial and civic photography Parks renewed his search for photography jobs in
3612-717: The South Side as exhibited by Hansberry v. Lee , 311 U.S. 32 (1940). President Obama announced in 2015 that the Barack Obama Presidential Center would be built adjacent the University of Chicago campus. Both Washington Park and Jackson Park were considered and it was announced in July 2016 that it would be built in Jackson Park. The South Side is served by mass transit as well as roads and highways. Midway International Airport
3696-463: The South Side can generally be divided into a White and Hispanic Southwest Side, a largely Black South Side and a smaller, more racially diverse Southeast Side centered on the East Side community area and including the adjacent community areas of South Chicago , South Deering and Hegewisch . The differing interpretations of the boundary between the South and Southwest Sides are due to a lack of
3780-575: The South Side itself, and residents range from affluent to middle class to poor. South Side neighborhoods such as Armour Square , Back of the Yards , Bridgeport , and Pullman host more blue collar and middle-class residents, while Hyde Park , the Jackson Park Highlands District , Kenwood , Beverly , Mount Greenwood , and west Morgan Park range from middle class to more affluent residents. The South Side boasts
3864-632: The South Side such as Hansberry v. Lee , 311 U.S. 32 (1940), went to the U. S. Supreme Court . The case, which reset the limitations of res judicata , successfully challenged racial restrictions in the Washington Park Subdivision by reopening them for legal argument. Blacks resided in Bronzeville (around 35th and State Streets) in an area called "the Black Belt". After World War II , blacks spread across
3948-653: The South Side to rest of the city. The South Side is served by the Red , Green and Orange lines of the CTA and the Rock Island District , Metra Electric and South Shore Metra lines and a few stops on the SouthWest Service Metra line. Standard local metropolitan bus service and CTA express service bus routes provide service to the Loop. Chicago's African American community, concentrated on
4032-546: The South Side's Bridgeport community area, which also produced two other Chicago Mayors. University of Chicago Lab School , affiliated with the University of Chicago, is a private school located there. The South Side is home to many official landmarks and other notable buildings and structures. It hosts three of the four Chicago Registered Historic Places from the original October 15, 1966 National Register of Historic Places list ( Chicago Pile-1 , Robie House and Lorado Taft Midway Studios ). One Museum Park , which
4116-421: The South Side, descendants of earlier immigrants, such as ethnic Irish, began to move out. Later housing pressures and civic unrest caused more whites to leave the area and the city. Older residents of means moved to newer suburban housing as new migrants entered the city, driving further demographic changes. The South Side was racially segregated for many decades. During the 1920s and 1930s, housing cases on
4200-561: The South Side, experienced an artistic movement from the 1930s until the 1960s. The movement was concentrated in and around the Hyde Park community area. Prominent writers and artists included Gwendolyn Brooks , Margaret Burroughs , Elizabeth Catlett , Eldzier Cortor , Gordon Parks , and Richard Wright . Other Chicago Black Renaissance artists included Willard Motley , William Attaway , Frank Marshall Davis , and Margaret Walker . St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton represented
4284-456: The South Side, including DuSable High School , Simeon Career Academy , John Hope College Prep High School and Phillips Academy High School . The De La Salle Institute , located in the Douglas community area across the street from Chicago Police Department headquarters, has taught five Chicago Mayors : Richard J. Daley , Michael A. Bilandic , Martin H. Kennelly , Frank J. Corr and Richard M. Daley . Three of these mayors hail from
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#17327809307474368-510: The South Side; its center, east, and western portions. The Black Belt arose from discriminatory real estate practices by whites against blacks and other racial groups. In the early 1960s, during the tenure of then Mayor Richard J. Daley , the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway created controversy. Many perceived the highway's location as an intentional physical barrier between white and black neighborhoods, particularly as
4452-424: The Southwest Side exclusively, the northern portion has a high concentration of Hispanics, the western portion has a high concentration of whites, and the eastern portion has a high concentration of blacks. Architecturally, the Southwest Side is distinguished by the tract of Chicago's Bungalow Belt, which runs through it. Archer Heights , a Polish enclave along Archer Avenue , which leads toward Midway Airport ,
4536-408: The U.S. Interstate Highway System and also national highways such as Lake Shore Drive . There is some debate as to the South Side's boundaries. Originally the sides were taken from the banks of the Chicago River. The city's address numbering system uses a grid demarcating Madison Street as the east–west axis and State Street as the north–south axis. Madison is in the middle of the Loop. As
4620-735: The black action hero into mainstream cinema. Director Spike Lee cites Parks as an inspiration, stating "You get inspiration where it comes from. It doesn't have to be because I'm looking at his films. The odds that he got these films made under, when there were no black directors, is enough." The Sesame Street character Gordon was named after Parks. Several parties are recipients or heirs of different parts of Parks's archival record. The Gordon Parks Foundation The Gordon Parks Foundation in Pleasantville, New York (formerly in Chappaqua, New York ) reports that it "permanently preserves
4704-590: The city's conference business with various convention centers . The current McCormick Place Convention Center is the largest convention center in the U.S. and the third largest in the world. Previously, the South Side hosted conventions at the Chicago Coliseum and the International Amphitheatre . The Ford City Mall and the surrounding shopping district includes several big-box retailers . The South Side has been home to some of
4788-552: The city. Street gangs have been prominent in some South Side neighborhoods for over a century, beginning with those of Irish immigrants, who established the first territories in a struggle against other European and black migrants. Some other neighborhoods stayed relatively safe for a big city. By the 1960s, gangs such as the Vice Lords began to improve their public image, shifting from criminal ventures to operating social programs funded by government and private grants. However, in
4872-666: The community and the contemporary lives of many of his 11 classmates from the segregated middle school they attended. The project included his commentary, but the work was never published by Life . During his years with Life , Parks also wrote a few books on the subject of photography (particularly documentary photography), and in 1960 was named Photographer of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Photographers . His fashion photography continued to be published in Vogue from
4956-708: The distinctive style of photographing his models in motion rather than in static poses. During this time, he published his first two books, Flash Photography (1947) and Camera Portraits: Techniques and Principles of Documentary Portraiture (1948). A 1948 photographic essay on a young Harlem gang leader won Parks a staff job as a photographer and writer with America's leading photo-magazine, Life . His involvement with Life would last until 1972. For over 20 years, Parks produced photographs on subjects including fashion, sports, Broadway , poverty, and racial segregation, as well as portraits of Malcolm X , Stokely Carmichael , Muhammad Ali , and Barbra Streisand . He became "one of
5040-409: The early 1930s. Parks composed Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1953) at the encouragement of black American conductor Dean Dixon and Dixon's wife Vivian, a pianist, and with the help of the composer Henry Brant . He completed Tree Symphony in 1967. In 1989, he composed and directed Martin , a ballet dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., the civil-rights leader, who had been assassinated. In
5124-452: The fashion world. Following his resignation from the Office of War Information, Parks moved to Harlem and became a freelance fashion photographer for Vogue under the editorship of Alexander Liberman . Despite racist attitudes of the day, Vogue editor Liberman hired him to shoot a collection of evening gowns. As Parks photographed fashion for Vogue over the next few years, he developed
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#17327809307475208-404: The first black Mayor of Chicago , as well as groundbreaking Congressman William L. Dawson , achieved political success from the South Side. The University of Chicago is one of the world's leading universities, counting 97 affiliated Nobel laureates . At Chicago Pile-1 at the university, the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved under the direction of Enrico Fermi in
5292-546: The godfather of his daughter, Qubilah Shabazz . With his 1971 film Shaft (along with Melvin Van Peebles 's Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song , released earlier the same year), Parks co-created the genre of blaxploitation, an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The action film also helped to alter Hollywood's view of African Americans, introducing
5376-704: The largest were the Robert Taylor Homes . Some census tracts (4904 in Roseland , 7106 in Auburn Gresham ) are 99% black. The South Side covers over 50% of the city's land area alone. It has a higher ratio of single-family homes and larger sections zoned for industry than the North or West Sides. Hyde Park is home to the University of Chicago , as well as the South Side's largest Jewish population, centered on Chicago's oldest synagogue ,
5460-412: The late-1940s, Parks began writing books on the art and craft of photography. This second career would produce 15 books and lead to his role as a prominent black filmmaker. His semi-autobiographical novel The Learning Tree was published in 1963. He authored several books of poetry, which he illustrated with his own photographs, and he wrote three volumes of memoirs: A Choice of Weapons (1966), Voices in
5544-431: The mid 1940s to the late 1970s. In the 1950s, Parks worked as a consultant on various Hollywood productions. He later directed a series of documentaries on black ghetto life that were commissioned by National Educational Television . With his film adaptation of his semi-autobiographical novel, The Learning Tree , in 1969 for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts . It was filmed in his home town of Fort Scott, Kansas. Parks also wrote
5628-438: The most provocative and celebrated photojournalists in the United States." His photographs for Life magazine, namely his 1956 photo essay, titled "The Restraints: Open and Hidden," illuminated the effects of racial segregation while simultaneously following the everyday lives and activities of three families in and near Mobile, Alabama: the Thorntons, Causeys, and Tanners. As curators at the High Museum of Art Atlanta note, while
5712-414: The most significant figures in the history of American politics. These include Richard J. Daley and his son, Richard M. Daley ; the first black U.S. President , Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama ; the first black female U.S. Senator , Carol Moseley Braun ; and the first black presidential candidate to win a primary, Jesse Jackson . Before them, Harold Washington , a Congressman and
5796-713: The museum by Parks, and bequeathed to the museum by him upon his death. The collection includes "awards and medals, personal photos, paintings and drawings of Gordon, plaques, certificates, diplomas and honorary doctorates, selected books and articles, clothing, record player, tennis racquet, magazine articles, his collection of Life magazines and much more." The museum has also separately received some of Parks's cameras, writing desk and photos of him. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The Library of Congress (LOC) reports that, in 1995, it "acquired Parks' personal collection, including papers, music, photographs, films, recordings, drawings and other products of his... career." The LOC
5880-407: The new wave of intellectual expression in literature by depicting the culture of the urban ghetto rather than the culture of blacks in the South in the monograph Black Metropolis . In 1961, Burroughs founded the DuSable Museum of African American History . By the late 1960s the South Side had a robost art movement led by Jim Nutt , Gladys Nilsson , Karl Wirsum and others, who became known as
5964-485: The numbers expanded with the Great Migration , as blacks left the agrarian South seeking a better future in the industrial North, including the South Side. By 1910, the black population in Chicago reached 40,000, with 78% residing in the Black Belt. Extending 30 blocks, mostly between 31st and 55th Streets, along State Street , but only a few blocks wide, it developed into a vibrant community dominated by black businesses, music, food and culture. As more blacks moved into
6048-665: The photo essay by Parks served as decisive documentation of the Jim Crow South and all of its effects, he did not simply focus on demonstrations, boycotts, and brutality that were associated with that period; instead, he "emphasized the prosaic details" of the lives of several families. An exhibition of photographs from a 1950 project Parks completed for Life was exhibited in 2015 at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts . Parks returned to his hometown, Fort Scott, Kansas, where segregation persisted, and he documented conditions in
6132-441: The phrase: "The Union Stock Yard, Chicago is ..." The Union Stock Yard Gate marking the old entrance to stockyards was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 24, 1972, and a National Historic Landmark on May 29, 1981. Other South Side regions have been known for great wealth, such as Prairie Avenue . 21st century redevelopment includes One Museum Park and One Museum Park West . The South Side accommodates much of
6216-484: The public, with guided group tours available by arrangement. The foundation admits "qualified researchers" to their archive, by appointment. The foundation collaborates with other organizations and institutions, nationally and internationally, to advance its aims. The Gordon Parks Museum/Center The Gordon Parks Museum/Center in Fort Scott, Kansas, holds dozens of Parks's photos and various belongings, both given to
6300-511: The screenplay and composed the musical score for the film, with assistance from his friend, the composer Henry Brant . Shaft , a 1971 detective film directed by Parks and starring Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, became a major hit that spawned a series of films that would be labeled as blaxploitation . The blaxploitation genre was one in which images of lower-class blacks being involved with drugs, violence and women, were exploited for commercially successful films featuring black actors, and
6384-542: The time. Today, most historians reviewing federally commissioned black photographers of that era focus almost exclusively on Parks.) After the FSA disbanded, Parks remained in Washington, D.C., as a correspondent with the Office of War Information , where he photographed the all-black 332d Fighter Group , known as the Tuskegee Airmen . He was unable to follow the group in the overseas war theatre, so he resigned from
6468-408: The title role as the namesake and nephew of the original John Shaft. In the cameo scene, Parks was sitting playing chess when Jackson greeted him as, "Mr. P." His first job was as a piano player in a brothel when he was a teenager. Parks also performed as a jazz pianist. His song "No Love", composed in another brothel, was performed during a national radio broadcast by Larry Funk and his orchestra in
6552-470: The work of Gordon Parks, makes it available to the public through exhibitions, books, and electronic media." The organization also says it "supports artistic and educational activities that advance what Gordon described as 'the common search for a better life and a better world.'" That support includes scholarships for "artistic" students, and assistance to researchers. Their headquarters includes an exhibition space with rotating photography exhibits, open free to
6636-733: Was already home to a federal archive that included Parks's first major photojournalism projects—photographs he produced for the Farm Security Administration (1942–43), and for the Office of War Information (1943–45). In April 2000, the LOC awarded Parks its accolade "Living Legend", one of only 26 writers and artists so honored by the LOC. The LOC also holds Parks's published and unpublished scores, and several of his films and television productions. National Film Registry Parks's autobiographical motion picture, The Learning Tree , and his African-American anti-hero action-drama Shaft , are both permanently preserved as part of
6720-534: Was broadcast on Chicago's CBS affiliate . Following the 2009 parade, organizers stated the group was "not planning to stage a parade in its present form". The parade was cancelled in 2010 and 2011 before being revived with more strict security and law enforcement. The Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic , the second largest parade in the U.S. and the nation's largest black parade, runs annually on Martin Luther King Drive between 31st and 51st Streets in
6804-403: Was chronicling the nation's social conditions, under the auspice of Roy Stryker . Government photography Over the next few years, Parks moved from job to job, developing a freelance portrait and fashion photographer sideline. He began to chronicle the city's South Side black ghetto and, in 1941, an exhibition of those photographs won Parks a photography fellowship with the FSA. Working at
6888-759: Was killed in a plane crash in 1979 in Kenya , where he had gone to direct a film. David is an author, with his first book, GI Diary , published in 1968. The book is included in the Howard University Press Classic Editions, Library of African American Literature and Criticism. Parks was a longtime resident of Greenburgh, New York in Westchester County, New York, and his house was landmarked in 2007. Parks has five grandchildren: Alain, Gordon III, Sarah, Campbell, and Satchel. Malcolm X honored Parks when he asked him to be
6972-485: Was popular with a section of the black community. Parks's feel for settings was confirmed by Shaft , with its portrayal of the super-cool leather-clad, black private detective hired to find the kidnapped daughter of a Harlem racketeer . Parks also directed the 1972 sequel, Shaft's Big Score , in which the protagonist finds himself caught in the middle of rival gangs of racketeers. Parks's other directorial credits include The Super Cops (1974) and Leadbelly (1976),
7056-399: Was sent to St. Paul, Minnesota , to live with his sister and her husband. He and his brother-in-law argued frequently and Parks was finally turned out onto the street to fend for himself at the age of 15. Struggling to survive, he worked in brothels, and as a singer, piano player, bus boy, traveling waiter, and semi-pro basketball player. In 1929, he briefly worked in an elite gentlemen's club,
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