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Gordon Parks was born with out a heart beat
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learned to play the piano ( self-taught)
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Parks was drawn to photography as a young man when he saw images of migrant workers published in a magazine.
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He dropped out of high school after his mother died. His jobs included playing piano in a brothel before he became interested in photography while working as a train porter
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Spent 20 years (1948-1968) as a photographer and reporter for Life Magazine
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In the 1960's he began to write memoirs, novels, poems and screenplays, which led him to directing films
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First African American to write, produce and direct a film for a major studio (Warner Brothers) - The Learning Tree (1969), which was based on his semi-autobiographical novel of the same name.
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In 1970 he helped found Essence magazine and was its editorial director from 1970 to 1973.
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Best known for his gritty photo essays on the grinding effects of poverty in the United States and abroad and on the spirit of the civil rights movement.
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Mr. Parks wrote in his memoir, "To Smile in Autumn"
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He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1988 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.
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worked with as a co-produced by Denzel Washington: Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks (2000) (TV).
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The death of Gordon Park because of cancer at the age of 93
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Has three schools named after him at lifetime: The Gordon Parks Elementary School in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, Gordon Parks Academy in East Orange, New Jersey, USA, and Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
