Parks filming The Learning Tree, 1968.
Among his many accomplishments, Gordon Parks had a groundbreaking career in film—as director, screenwriter, producer, and composer. In 1969, encouraged by acclaimed film director and friend John Cassavettes, Parks became the first African American to write and direct a major Hollywood studio feature film, The Learning Tree, based on his bestselling semiautobiographical novel. His next directorial endeavor, Shaft (1971) helped define a genre then referred to as blaxploitation films. Over 25 years, Parks’s career in film encompassed documentaries, blockbuster Hollywood films, and bio-pics such as Leadbelly and Solomon Northup’s Odyssey depicting the lives of significant Black Americans.
*Flavio, 1964
*Diary of a Harlem Family, 1968
*The World of Piri Thomas, 1968
*The Learning Tree, 1969
*Shaft, 1971
*Shaft’s Big Score!, 1972
*The Super Cops, 1974
*Leadbelly, 1976
*Solomon Northup’s Odyssey, 1984
*Moments Without Proper Names, 1987
*Martin, 1990
The Learning Tree - movie poster, 1969
The Learning Tree - promotional poster, 1969
Shaft - movie poster, 1971
Shaft - promotional image, 1971
Shaft - movie poster, 1971 (Japanese Release)
Shaft - movie poster, 1971 (Serbian Release)
Shaft's Big Score - movie poster, 1972
Shaft's Big Score - movie poster, 1972 (Italian Release)
The Super Cops - movie poster, 1974
Leadbelly - movie poster, 1976