Gordon Parks is perhaps best known for his photo essays in Life and directing Shaft, but Parks, who died in 2006 at the age of 93, was an artist of many passions. In addition to photographs and film, Parks also produced poetry, fiction and music.

Parks began his photography work in the late 30s in Chicago. He ran a portrait business for society women, and his interests blossomed from there. He would later chronicle black poverty on the city's South Side and, after working for the government and as a fashion photographer, he would eventually become a photo journalist for Life. He was the magazine's first black staffer, and would work there for 20 years. The Learning Tree author was also a civil rights activist who composed and choreographed a ballet dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr in the late 80s. [Read more about Parks]