Today, September 30, 1989, the late Gordon A. Parks Sr. humbly makes history in America when his film, “The Learning Tree” – an adaptation of his 1963 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, became one of the first registered in the Library of Congress’s (LoC) National Film Registry. 

The film was 1 of 25 films initially chosen to be preserved by LoC to due to cultural and historical significance.

Gordon Parks is the first African-American to produce, direct and score a film for a major Hollywood film – Warner Bros/Seven Arts.

Parks is the director of Shaft (1971), Shaft’s Big Score (1972), and The Super Cops (1974), and many more. Shaft is also preserved in the National Film Registry.

As it pertains to music, it was the late Isaac Hayes who recorded the soundtrack album to Shaft (1971), which earned a Grammy Award for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture.  

Stream “Shaft” on YouTube today