born Nov. 30, 1912, Fort Scott, Kan., U.S.
U.S. writer, photographer, and film director.
Parks worked as a staff photographer for Life (1948–72), becoming known for his portrayals of ghetto life, black nationalists, and the civil rights movement. His first work of fiction was The Learning Tree (1963), a novel about a black adolescent in Kansas in the 1920s. He combined poetry and photography in collections such as A Poet and His Camera (1968) and Glimpses Toward Infinity (1996). He also directed several motion pictures, including Shaft (1971).