Biography One of the 20 th century’s greatest photographers Gordon Parks was born in 1912 to the family of African-American farmers in Fort Scott, Kansas. Ever since his early years, Parks used to be exposed to racism, which partially explains why he could not obtain a formal college diploma. After the death of his mother in 1926, Parks was forced to move to Minneapolis, where he made a living by affiliating himself with a number of odd jobs, such as the job of a ‘porter boy’ in the town’s gentlemen-clubs. While working hard, in order to ensure his physical survival, Parks nevertheless proved himself resourceful enough to take an interest in many pursuits, which at the time were considered being solely reserved for White Americans, such as playing piano. Nevertheless, it was specifically Parks’ budding fascination with photography, which had set him on the path of becoming one of the most socially prominent African-Americans of all times. In 1938, Parks purchased his first camera and started to apply an active effort in turning this fascination into the mean of supporting himself financially. Even though that initially, Parks strived to gain recognition as a fashion photographer, it is specifically by securing jobs with the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in 1939 (which provided him with the task to photograph the social effects of the Depression in America) that he was able to make himself a name. People started to regard him as being not only extremely talented but also a ‘visionary’ photographer. It is namely this particular phase of Parks’ professional career, which is now being commonly referred to as having been the most discursively significant. This is because, through the years of 1939-1942, Parks did not only succeed in photographing the sheer scope of social injustices in America, but he also managed to expose many of these injustices, as such that had been reflective of the American society’s racial intolerance. In 1948, Parks became the first Black photographer, hired by Life magazine. While working for this magazine well into the sixties, Parks was able to make the photographic records of what accounted for the era’s most important socio-political developments – specifically those associated with the rise of the Civil Rights movement in America. It is specifically due to what were Parks’ professional activities, during the course of the earlier mentioned historical period, that we can now enjoy the exceptionally well-photographed images of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Mohammed Ali. Simultaneously, Parks was involved in a number of other intellectually stimulating activities, such as writing poetry/novels and composing music. His most well-known autobiographical novels include 1963 The Learning Tree and 1966 A Choice of Weapons . Ever since the early seventies, Parks also became involved with the movie-industry – the year of 1971 saw the release of Shaft (film), directed by Parks, which is now being discussed as such that originated a whole new cinematographic genre/style of blaxploitation . Throughout the course of the eighties, Parks directed a few documentaries, concerned with the Civil Rights movement, and composed the