In a career that spanned over 50 years, photographer, filmmaker, musician, and author Gordon Parks created an iconic body of work that documented American life and culture, with a focus on social justice, the civil rights movement, and the African American experience.

Parks’s career extended beyond photography to encompass filmmaking, music, and writing. In 1969 he became the first African American to write and direct a major feature film, The Learning Tree, based on his semi-autobiographical novel. His next directorial endeavor, Shaft (1971) remains an icon of blaxploitation films. Parks continued photographing, publishing, and composing until his death on March 7, 2006