Parks' chronicle of small-town Maine anticipates his profound images of civil rights and inequality In January 1944, Gordon Parks (1912-2006) photographed Herklas Brown--the owner of a general store and Esso gas station in Somerville, Maine. Parks traveled to the state under the auspices of the Standard Oil Company New Jersey (SONJ) to record their contributions to the war effort and document the home front in this crucial...