GORDON PARKS CIVIL RIGHTS TO SHAFT
We all know the film, we all know the theme. When someone says Shaft we think of gritty New York streets, of Richard Roundtree and Isaac Hayes, but what do you know of it’s director? About Gordon Parks?
Born in Kansas in 1912, Parks’ birth would be the first challenge he had to overcome, as poet Carole Boston Weatherford explains: “His entire life is a study in overcoming the odds and defying stereotypes, beginning with the moment of his birth – he was stillborn. He was not even supposed to live, let alone create this legacy in photography, filmmaking, music, writing and poetry. He was not even supposed to live and yet he became a Renaissance man.”
But he would live an awe inspiring life, using his artistic skills to challenge racial prejudice and defy stereotypes. More than anything, he is an example of an individual who constantly overcame the obstacles in his path.
Constantly facing racism and prejudice, he attended a segregated school where people of colour were forbidden to play sports or attend social activities. In his book: , Parks says: “I had to sit in the Peanut Gallery (the Negro section) at the movies. We weren’t allowed to drink a soda at the drugstore in town. I was stoned and beaten.” The horrific abuse that Parks faced came not only in the form of physical beatings, but also constant psychological attacks. As Boston Weatherford reveals: “His teacher told him when he was a boy that
