Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks (1912-2006) was known especially for his photo essays in Life magazine, where he was on staff from 1948-1972. As an African-American, his work as a photographer was essential to illuminating Black experience during the Civil Rights era and beyond. He was also a successful fashion photographer, who published in Vogue during this time as well. In 1971, Parks directed Shaft, becoming the first Black filmmaker to direct a feature film financed by a major Hollywood studio.
See many of Parks’ photo series from across the decades in the archive of the Gordon Parks Foundation, here.
https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/gordon-parks/photography-archive
See photographs Parks took of American icon and heavy-weight champ Muhammad Ali for Life in 1966 and 1970 in this online exhibit from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Gordon Parks said that in creating Shaft he wanted to make a film in which audiences could see “the Black guy winning.” Read an essay on the cultural significance of the film, and its relation to Parks’ other work, here.
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7834-shaft-power-moves