ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the documentary "Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks". It explores how could one man, have accomplished so much in one lifetime. The late Gordon Parks had been a poet, photographer, filmmaker, author, composer, and more. Parks said he used his "camera as a weapon" to reveal a life white Americans rarely saw or understood. His access to important places and events allowed him to document many people, and he had an outlet for his photography and more. It is unfortunate that Parks' works are not included in many of today's American history and art history textbooks. Parks had the ability to get his subjects to feel comfortable with him and his camera, whether the subject was street gangs of Harlem or celebrities of the time. His story is a rags-to-riches one, but along with success came personal problems along the way.
