Ernest C. Withers

b. 7 August 1922, Memphis, Tennessee
d. Aged 85, 15 October 2007, Memphis, Tennessee

Ernest Withers was a renowned photographer whose catalogue of black and white images form the most unique and extensive collections of visual representations of life in the segregated Southern regions of North America. In the early part of his career, he worked as a photographer in the Army during World War 2 photographing engineering projects built by African American soldiers.

In the 1950s and 60s, Elder Withers photographed images including the civil rights movement, the numerous lynchings that occurred at the time, Dr. Martin Luther King, the entire trial of the men who murdered Emmett Till in August 1955 and the Memphis sanitations workers’ strike where a group of men held placards reading “I Am a Man”. He was also known for his photography of African American baseball players, musicians and artists including Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Issac Hayes, Otis Redding, Al Green and Aretha Franklin.

Tony Decaneas, owner of the Panopitcon Gallery in Boston, which is the exclusive agent for Elder Withers said, “Not only did he document civil rights history, he was the epitome of a fine-art working journalist.”

Ernest Withers is survived by his wife Dorothy, his sons Joshua, Jerome and Perry and his daughter, Rosalind. He has 15 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.