National Gallery of Art

Gordon Parks, Self-Portrait, 1941, gelatin silver print, Private Collection. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Marva Trotter Louis, Chicago, Illinois, 1941, gelatin silver print, The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Charles White in front of his mural “Chaos of the American Negro,” 1941, gelatin silver print, Charles White Archives. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Langston Hughes, Chicago, December 1941, gelatin silver print, The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Anacostia, D.C. Frederick Douglass housing project. Mother watching her children as she prepares the evening meal. June 1942, gelatin silver print, Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C. Young boy standing in the doorway of his home on Seaton Road in the northwest section. His leg was cut off by a streetcar while he was playing in the street. June 1942, gelatin silver print, printed later, The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C. Government charwoman, July 1942, gelatin silver print, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Photograph

Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C. Grandchildren of Mrs. Ella Watson, a government charwoman (Children with Doll), July 1942, gelatin silver print, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Photograph

Gordon Parks, The People’s Voice, Harlem, New York, August 1943, gelatin silver print, Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Lt. George Knox. 332nd Fighter Group training at Selfridge Field, Michigan, October 1943, gelatin silver print mounted on board with caption, The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Pittsburgh, Pa. The cooper’s plant at the Penola, Inc. grease plant, where large drums and containers are reconditioned. March 1944, gelatin silver print, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Captain Bill Lafond, 60-year-old fisherman at Gloucester, owns three boats. He is of Dutch French ancestry and has been going to sea since he was 13. November 1944, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection). Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Drug store “cowboys.” Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada. September 1945, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection). Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, View of passenger aboard a Staten Island ferry, New York City. August 1948, gelatin silver print, Standard Oil (New Jersey) Collection, Photographic Archives, University of Louisville. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Untitled, Harlem, New York, 1947, gelatin silver print, The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Off on My Own, 1948, gelatin silver print, The Gordon Parks Foundation. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Trapped in abandoned building by a rival gang on street, Red Jackson ponders his next move, 1948, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection). Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Harlem Rooftops, 1948, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund. Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation

Gordon Parks, Paris Fashions, 1949, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection). Courtesy of and © The Gordon Parks Foundation