American artist Gordon Parks was a self-taught photographer who bought his first camera in the late 1930s after seeing documentary images of migrant workers produced by the Farm Security Administration. Parks developed his photojournalistic style as a contributing photographer for Ebony, Glamour, Vogue, and Life magazines, and as a photographer documenting American social conditions for the federal government. Parks called the camera his “weapon of choice,” wielding it to expose the realities of American society and culture—specifically the experiences of Black Americans—including civil rights, discrimination, and poverty.

–Danea Johnson, from the Glenstone Field Guide