Shaft! Can you dig it?

Gordon Parks was a modern-day renaissance man -- a filmmaker, writer, composer and, most famously, a photographer who was largely self-taught in this and all his fields of pursuit. Yet in spite of his lack of formal training, Parks became one of the most important artists of his era, using his craft to break down and challenge stereotypes -- through his own actions as well as through the works he produced. Parks, born in 1912 in Fort Scott, Kan., died on March 7, 2006; he was 93.

Parks was the first African-American to produce and direct a major film for Hollywood: 1969's "The Learning Tree." That film, along with "Shaft" (1971), is on the National Film Registry, a list of 425 films that are deemed to be so "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant as to warrant their preservation. The list is designed to reflect the full breadth and diversity of America's film heritage, thus increasing public awareness of the richness of American cinema and the need for its preservation.

The films are selected each year by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. The Librarian chooses 25 films annually after evaluating nearly 1,000 titles nominated by the public and conducting intensive discussions with the Library's Motion Picture division staff and the distinguished members and alternates of his advisory group, the National Film Preservation Board. The board also advises the Librarian on national film preservation policy.