Photo by Caitlin Abrams
Learn more about the (well-documented) history of Parks by reading one—or all— of his books.
Learn more about the (well-documented) history of Parks by reading one—or all—of his books.
Composition
Parks, who was born in Kansas in 1912 (as the youngest of 15 kids), moved to St. Paul to live with his sister when he was 16—but was kicked out after fighting with his temperamental brother-in-law. As a high schooler experiencing homelessness, he played piano at a Minneapolis brothel and toured with Larry Funk’s orchestra, eventually dropping out of school at the start of the Depression.
Exposure
Before he became the first Black photographer to work for Vogue and Life and before he became the first Black producer and director of a major film (1969’s The Learning Tree), Parks taught himself to shoot with a pawnshop camera and worked as a staff photog for Black-owned newspapers the Minneapolis Spokesman and the St. Paul Recorder in the late 1930s. His first solo exhibition took place at St. Paul’s Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in 1938.
Scope
The artist lives on: St. Paul’s Gordon Parks High School focuses on media-related curricula for a student body that’s predominantly nonwhite and/or qualifies for free and reduced lunch in an effort to encourage the next generation of creatives like Parks.
Portfolio
Want to see more? Find his photographs locally in Mia’s permanent collection (check Gallery 365). Plus, catch one of Parks’s most famous movies (and conversations with special guests, including Parks’s niece Robin Hickman-Winfield) as part of the MSP International Film Fest’s Luminary Tribute series, which takes place throughout the festival.
