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BLACK IN TIME: A Moment In OUR History (128 hits)

Gordon Parks

A Pictorial Essay On Flavio De Silva, An Impoverished And Sickly Boy Living In The Favela, Or Slums, Of Rio De Janeiro, Appeared In The June 16, 1961 Issue Of Time Magazine.

When The Heart-Wrenching Images Were Seen, And Flavio's Story Read, Nearly $30,000 Was Donated To Help The Boy And His Family Get A New Home. Part Of The Money Was Also Used Fly The Child To America To Receive Medical Treatment For Severe Asthma.

The Author Of The Photo Piece Was Award-Winning Photo Journalist, Film Director, Composer, Poet And Social Activist, Gordon Alexander Buchannan Parks, Sr. --- Born November 30, 1912.

During The 1970's Parks Signed With Paramount Pictures As The First African American To Work For A Major Motion Picture Studio. He Directed The Films, "Shaft" And "Shaft's Big Sore," Two Motion Pictures Which Proved The Box Office Power Of Movies Targeted At Black Audiences. "Shaft" Grossed $12 Million In Its First Year.

His Film, "The Learning Tree," Was Registered By The National Film Registry Of The Library Of Congress, On September 19, 1989.

Released In 1969, And Adapted From The Book By The Same Title, "The Learning Tree" Is An Autobiographical Offering By Parks. It Tells The Coming Of Age Story Of Newt Winger, A Young Black Boy Growing Up In Racist, Pre-Civil Rights Movemnet Kansas, During The 1920's.

Gordon Parks Died March 7, 2006.

"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." -- Hubert Gaddy, Jr