" I chose my camera as a weapon against all the things I dislike about America"

Gordon Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kansas. His mother died while he was still a young boy. He went to live with an older sister, but his brother-in-law had strict rules. At 16 years old he found himself out of a home and alone in the snow of winter just before Christmas. This was just one of the few hardships he would encounter.

The racism he encountered he turned into art. He was an American renaissance man. Parks excelled in photography, painting, musical composition, film making, poetry and writing. He used his art to rise above hardship and express a message of hope.

Parks made a movie about his life some years ago, "The Learning Tree". The movie showed positive Black images on the sceen. In 1989, the picture was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films to enter the National Film Registry.

Parks is still going strong and has lots of work to do. Parks has said,"Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit".