Gordon Parks.

The youngest of 15 children, Gordon Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, on November 30, 1912. His mother died when he was young, leading him to drop out of high school. He took jobs including playing piano in a Minnesota brothel and working as a train porter, which sparked his interest in photography.

Parks began his photography career at Life magazine in 1948, producing photo essays on poverty and the civil rights movement for over two decades. In 1969 he wrote, produced, and directed The Learning Tree for Warner Brothers, becoming the first African-American to do so for a major studio. The film was selected for the National Film Registry in 1989. His next film, Shaft 1971, was a box office hit and a landmark of the blaxploitation genre. He co-founded Essence Magazine.

Parks married three times: to Sally Alvis from 1933 to 1961, to Elizabeth Campbell from 1962 to 1973, and to Genevieve Young from 1973 to 1979. He had three children: David, Leslie, and Toni. He was godfather to Quibilah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X. He smoked a pipe and was close friends with author Candace Bushnell after she moved to Manhattan.

Gordon Parks’s photo essays for Life magazine drew attention to social injustices, and his film Shaft 1971 became a landmark in African-American cinema. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1988 and the Spingarn Medal. Three schools are named after him: Gordon Parks Elementary School in Kansas City, Missouri; Gordon Parks Academy in East Orange, New Jersey; and Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the first African-American to write, produce, and direct a major studio film.