Part 1
1. The doctor saved Gordon's life by asking Gordon's sisters to get a tub of water. The doctor placed ice and Gordon into the tub. He rubbed the ice against Gordon.
2. Gordon was born in Fort Scott, Kansas.
3. Ms. McClintock told Gordon that many Negros did not go to college. Those that went would be poor as maids. She said that Negros were not college material and that it would be a waste of money.
4. Gordon was 15 years old when his mother died.
5. Gordon moved to Minnesota to live with his sister when his mother died.
6. Gordon did graduate from college. However, he received his 41st honorary doctorate at Princeton.
7. Gordon started his fashion career by asking Frank Murphy and his wife if he could photography their women's clothing store. He would ask if he could photography 3 models in formal clothing.
8. Double exposure is something that Gordon did to the photos he had taken for Murphy's women clothing store when he was shooting fashion. The film is exposed multiple times, so the image is overly imposed, which will create a ghostly appeal.
9. Joe Louis is the husband of Marva Louis, whose attention was caught by Gordon Park's photos of fashion (which were on display at Murphy's women clothing store). Marva Louis told Gordon to move to Chicago. Joe Louis is also the World Heavyweight Champion in boxing from 1937-1949.
10. Gordon played piano.
11. The purpose of the Farm Security Administration was to photography poverty across America. It tried to exemplify the challenges of rural American poverty.
12. Stryker's first assignment to Gordon was for Gordon to go to a store to get a top coat, to go to the nearby restaurant to get a bite to eat, and to go to the local moving motion picture theater and report back to Stryker what he thought about the film.
13. Ella Watson was Gordon's first photo he showed Stryker. Ella Watson was holding a broom and a map and she stood in front of an American flag when Gordon took the photo. She was mopping the floor when Gordon asked her if he could take her photo.
14. The inspiration for Grant Wood's American Gothic was the typical roles of American people in the 19th century. The woman is modeled after Grant Wood's sister and the man is modeled after his dentist. Gordon Parks created a parody of Grant Wood's American Gothic using Ella Watson as his subject.
15. He told Gordon not to photograph just bigots but to photograph the root of bigotry and discrimmination. Gordon learned about people, humanity, and how to approach people from Stryker. Gordon also learned that the people in front of the camera were the most important people.
Part 2
16. The FSA shut down in 1943.
17. Gordon shot for Vogue when he moved to New York.
18. The picture editor was Wilson Hicks when Gordon walked into the Life Magazine office. Hicks was the toughest picture editor Life ever had.
19. The first major story Parks covered for Life Magazine was on crime about Red Jackson and his gang. Parks learned that these gangs had a passionate allegiance to its members. Parks later moved onto crime across America.
20. Some of the artists Gordon mentioned that influenced his work after he moved to the Parks Life Magazine bureau were Picasso, Bernard. Van Gogh, and other masterful arstists.
21. Gordon shot fashion when he lived in France by asking the model to move and moving with the model and shooting at a slow speed. It was a difficult task because Parks had to move with her and keep the model in focus.
22. Park's concerto was performed in Venice.
23. Park's second wife was Elizabeth Campbell Rollins. Her father was Ecents Campbell. She wanted to go into modeling.
24. Flavio de Silva was 12 years old when Parks first met Flavio.
25. Parks met Flavio in Rio de Janerio when Flavio was carrying a tin of water on his head. Gordon met Flavio again in 1999 in Brazil.
26. Flavio lived in Rio de Janerio in the rotting catacumba favela when Parks first met Flavio and his family.
27. Gloria Vanderbilt is a painter, designed, and close friend of Gordon Parks. Gloria and Gordon often wrote poetry to each other. There was a possibility that Gordon would have married Gloria.
Her famous son is Anderson Cooper, who is the CNN anchor
Her ancestors are the prominent Vanderbilt family who built their success on the railroad and shipping industry.
28. Vanderbilt described their relationship as an extraordinary experience because she felt that she already knew Gordon when they met. She felt that they were already connected spiritually.
Part 3 and 4
1. My definition of being successful is enjoying what you are doing and being able to do it well. In order to be do something well, you must have some sort of deep passion for that activity. I want to be successful as an athlete because I enjoy seeing the improvement that I make athletically.
2. I have given up sleep and time to be successful. Sleep has been given up in order to continue working on what I want to improve on, such as for a certain class or for a sport that I love. Time has been given up because this time could have used for different activities, such as family time or relaxing. But I had to use this time in order to become successful in my respective field.
3. Parks had to give up family time and marriages in order to become successful in his multiple fields of photography, film, and music.
4. Genevieve Young's father was Claurence Kuangson Young. Her stepfather was V.K. Wellington Koo, was a Chinese diplomat from the Republic of China and helped found the League of Nations and the United Nations.
5. Parks was advanced $10,000 and this book was called
The Learning Tree.
6. Elijah Muhammad offered Parks half a million dollars to do a story of The Nation of Islam.
7. Parks refused the money because he felt that Elijah Muhammad might try to influence Parks and his work,
8. It was the first time that an African American would direct a major Hollywood film.
9. Shaft was a black superhero that inspired other African Americans to not be intimidated by racism. Shaft was a reflection of Gordon Parks.
10. Gordon Parks' choice of weapons were photography,writing, music, and film
11. Genevieve Young said that separation between Young and Parks was like living in a washing machine because she never knew what was going to happen next. She felt Parks' turmoil and her trying it controlled tired her. She said that this set her career back.
12. The recent feature film that shared the similar story as Solomon Northup's
Odyssey is
12 Years A Slave.
13. Gordon Parks, Jr. is the oldest son of Gordon Parks. Gordon Jr. was a director, who directed
Super Fly. Gordon Parks, Jr. died in a plane crash. He seemed to follow in the footsteps of his father as a director and photographer.
14. My favorite Gordon Parks photo is of Muhammad Ali (
Muhammad Ali, Miami, Florida, 1966) because it pictures one of the most iconic athletes in history. It shows the effects of Muhammad Ali's hard training as sweat drips down his face and his eyes show his tiredness.
15. I will remember Gordon Parks in 10 years as a historic African American man who fought segregation and racial injustices to the African American community through photography, music, writing, and film.
