St. Paul plaza memorializes photographer Gordon Parks

A park space beside the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul is being eyed as the site for a memorial to the late filmmaker, composer and photographer Gordon Parks, who started his career in the city.

His grand niece, Robin Hickman, is behind the effort. She hopes to rename it Gordon Parks Place or Gordon Parks Plaza, in cooperation with the city of St. Paul. Hickman marks the occasion this weekend with an exhibit in conjunction with the Ordway's Flint Hills Children's Festival and a reception where Parks used to wait tables.

Hickman called the area a "healing place," with landmarks such as the St. Paul Hotel and the Minnesota Club, "both where he worked as a waiter. His music was played at a hotel down the street."

Parks was born in Kansas, but was sent to live with his sister in Minnesota when his mother died in 1927. In addition to waiting tables in St. Paul, he was a janitor and a piano player in a brothel.

He was a waiter at the Lowry Hotel when a traveling big band picked up one of Parks' tunes and asked him to join them on tour.

Best known as a pioneering photographer, Parks got his start at a women's clothing store on St. Peter Street, with a second hand camera.

Parks went on to produce photo essays for Life magazine and make films. He continued his music career, composing the score for a ballet dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also a painter and co-founder of Essence magazine. He wrote three memoirs and several books of poetry.

St. Paul already has one memorial to Parks — an alternative high school named in his honor on University Avenue. Students from the school are part of a preliminary exhibit at the downtown plaza.

"This is [Parks] taking his rightful place, center stage in St. Paul, and I think that's very, very important, especially as we talk about and confront the issues of disparities and talking about racial equity and economic equity," Hickman said. "What better way to demonstrate to the nation that we are committed to this?"

Hickman says design of the memorial is still in the planning stages, but she hopes there eventually will be a permanent representation of Parks at the site, and public art that reflects his wide-ranging career and accomplishments.