BLACK BLOGGAH

I remember as a young artist being told again and again that I had to specialize and feeling like I was being boxed in. Well, no one ever told Gordon Parks that he had to specialize, and if they did he ignored them. He mastered photography, painting, music, film, and the novel and broke barriers for Blacks in every one. In his 80's I got to speak with him briefly at a book-signing in Chicago and he was still bright with energy, wit and artistic ambition. He was a man for the ages. It's would be difficult to imagine Black American culture without him. A giant! Thanks Mr. Parks. We'll miss you.

from Time
"...He made countless pictures of the glories and burdens of African-American life at a time when an unapologetic white racism was the rule, and sometimes the law, in places all around the country.

He could make those pictures because he possessed not only an alert eye but also an experienced heart."