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In the 1950s he also such baseball icons as Jackie
Robinson and Willie Mays. on Beale Street, he photographed the
early performances of such celebrities as Elvis Presley, B.B.
King, Ike and Tina Turner, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin.
Withers photos are here presented thanks to the permission
of www.panopt.com
©Ernest C. Withers courtesy of Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.
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Wither's civil rights photographs are
known for their immediacy and directness that stems from
his use of a normal-focus lens. His nearness to events
were not only physical but also ideological. Withers
photographed the quiet dignity of Martin Luther king Jr.
on one of the desegregated buses in Montgomery,
Alabama as well as the violence that marred the strike
of the Sanitation Workers in Memphis, Tennessee. He was
in the midst of the action.
In December of 1956, Ernest Withers
traveled to Montgomery to photograph an important moment
in the struggle for civil rights. |
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For more than a year, black citizens of Montgomery had been
boycotting the city's buses to protect a bus system that not
only forced blacks to the back of the bus, but made them give up
their seats to white people if there were no more seats
available. in 1955, a 43-year-old black seamstress named Rosa
Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man in protest
against Montgomery's harsh segregation laws.
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Her arrest was the catalyst that the
black community needed to organize a protest against
these harsh laws. the bus boycott led directly to the
founding "of the Southern Christian leadership
Conference (SCLC), which became the most influential
voice advocating nonviolent confrontation with white
racism, and to the rise to prominence of the Reverend
Martin Luther King Jr." The bus
boycott case made it to the U.s. Supreme Court where
Alabama's state and local laws requiring segregation on
public transportation were struck down on November 13,
1956. December 21, 1956 was the first day for
desegregated buses in Montgomery. |
Withers was there and rode one of the first buses as he waited
for Martin Luther King Jr. to arrive. When dr. King boarded the
bus along with the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Withers was there
to document the emotional event.
* * * * *
Withers photos are here presented thanks to the permission
of www.panopt.com
©Ernest C. Withers courtesy of Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.
Withers photos are here presented thanks to the
permission of
www.panopt.com
©Ernest C. Withers courtesy of Panopticon Gallery, Boston,
MA. * * * * *
AWARDS: National News Association, Best
Photographer of the Year, 1968
Achievements: Photographs appeared in Time, Newsweek,
Ebony, jet, the New York Times, Washington Post, the Chicago
Defender, and the PBS documentary "Eyes on the Prize."
Exhibition: "Let Us March On," The
University of Mississippi, 1987 * * * * *
Ernest Withers
Civil Rights Photographer, Dies at 85—Ernest
C. Withers, a photographer whose voluminous catalog of
arresting black-and-white images illustrates a history of
life in the segregated South in the 1950s and ’60s, from the
civil rights movement to the Beale Street music scene, died
on Monday in Memphis. He was 85. The cause was complications
of a stroke, said his son Joshua, of Los Angeles. . . .
Ernest C. Withers was born on Aug. 7, 1922, in Memphis. He
worked as a photographer in the Army in World War II and
started a studio when he returned. He also worked for about
three years as one of the first nine African-American police
officers in Memphis. Besides his son Joshua, also known as
Billy, Mr. Withers is survived by his wife, Dorothy; two
other sons, Andrew Jerome and Perry, both of Memphis; a
daughter, Rosalind, of West Palm Beach, Fla.; 15
grandchildren; and 8 great-grandchildren. Besides
documenting music and civil rights, Mr. Withers also turned
his lens on the last great years of Negro League baseball.
His work appeared in publications like Time, Newsweek and
The New York Times and has been collected in four books:
“Let Us March On,” “Pictures Tell the Story,” “The Memphis
Blues Again” and “Negro League Baseball.”—Alison
J. Peterson (October 17, 2007)
NYTimes
* *
* * *
Memphis FBI
agent led cadre of informants that included Ernest
Withers—By Marc Perrusquia—December 19, 2010—
CommercialAppeal
Agent
William Lawrence's notes on Ernest Withers—These
notes, written by then-retired FBI agent William
H. Lawrence in 1978, provide new insight into
photographer Ernest Withers' secret life as an
FBI informant. The notes, scribbled on scratch
paper, refer to Withers by name and by his
informant number -- ME 338-R. Lawrence wrote the
notes as Congress reviewed FBI surveillance
surrounding Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968
assassination in Memphis. Lawrence died in 1990
at age 70. His family saved the notes and shared
them with the newspaper.— CommercialAppeal
Ernest
Withers Exposed—Ernest Withers is synonymous
with civil rights history. The celebrated
Memphis photographer covered the movement like
no other. An insider who marched alongside Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., Withers followed the
struggle from beginning to end, covering the
Emmett Till murder that jump-started the
movement in 1955, the Montgomery bus boycott,
the Little Rock school crisis, the integration
of Ole Miss and the 1968 sanitation strike that
brought King to Memphis and his death.
But the
enterprising Beale Street newsman had a secret - he
was an informant who spied on the movement for the
FBI. The Commercial Appeal unlocked Withers' secret,
acting on a tip from a former federal official who
identified the photographer as a paid political
informant working for a notorious FBI program that
spied on American citizens in the 1960s.
Reporter Marc
Perrusquia filed a Freedom of Information Act
request in 2008, months after Withers died, seeking
his informant file. The file remains sealed, and the
newspaper has an appeal pending. Yet Perrusquia was
able to piece together elements of Withers' secret
work for the FBI between 1968 and 1970 by obtaining
his confidential informant number - ME 338-R - and
then locating that number in other FBI reports
released under FOIA three decades ago. Data reporter
Grant Smith provided invaluable technical
assistance, along with hours of labor, to produce
and load the Withers document archive onto this
page.— CommercialAppeal
* *
* * *
Lance "Sweet
Willie Wine" Watson—"Prime Minister," the
Invaders, a Black Panther-styled militant group
based in Memphis. Affectionately called Withers "my
daddy." Unknown to Watson, Withers routinely
reported on him. Reports indicate Withers told FBI
agents Watson was a thief and a conman and planned
an armed takeover of the LeMoyne-Owen College
campus.
Interviewed
this year, Watson had no clue. "If he was (an
informant) I don't know anything about it ... He
would call me his son."— CommercialAppeal
Charles
Cabbage—Invaders co-founder, 1967. Also
close to Withers. Appears often in FBI reports
copied to the photographer's informant file. The
reports show Cabbage once passed out leaflets
with instructions for making firebombs; dodged
the draft; and was involved in prostitution.
Interviewed before his death in June, Cabbage
said he'd come to suspect Withers.
"Anytime he'd
see us, he'd start snapping (photographs). C'mon
man. We weren't that interesting. Why would he take
our pictures constantly?"— CommercialAppeal
Martin
Luther King, Jr.—Nobel laureate. Over last
12 years of his life, King interacted often with
Withers. The photographer snapped famous photos
of King victoriously riding an integrated bus in
Montgomery in 1956 and reclining on a bed at the
Lorraine Motel in Memphis in 1966. FBI reports
show Withers tracked King the day before his
April 4, 1968, assassination. Withers met King
at the Memphis airport, followed him to a
strategy meeting, and later told agents about a
dinner involving King, Cabbage and young
militants.— CommercialAppeal
William
H. Lawrence
Withers' FBI handler. Career FBI agent, first
assigned to Memphis, 1945. Directed secret
counter-intelligence against Communists, 1950s.
Directed five paid informants in late 1960s
reporting on sanitation workers' strike and
other racial matters. Testifying before Congress
in 1978, Lawrence discussed a trusted, unnamed
informant who had "provided information on
racial matters generally and the Invaders in
particular." Lawrence died in 1990.— CommercialAppeal
Gerald
Fanion
Deputy director, Tennessee Council on Human
Relations, 1968. Appears in several FBI reports
copied to Withers' informant file. Those reports
attempt to link Fanion to Invaders. One asserts
Fanion once bought cigarettes and delivered them
to jailed members of the militant group. Another
shows agents held an interest in Fanion's
purchase of a liquor store. Records are silent
as to whether Fanion was ever a target of FBI
counter-intelligence measures or "dirty tricks"
at times aimed at militants and their
associates. Indicted in federal court, 1977,
after FBI dropped domestic spy program, for
check kiting. Died in July.— CommercialAppeal
G.E.
Patterson
Bishop, Church of God in Christ. In January
1969, Patterson, then a prominent pastor with a
popular radio broadcast, landed in FBI files.
The report, copied to Withers' informant file,
describes a row between Patterson and Bert
Ferguson, white general manager of radio station
WDIA, which has a predominately black listening
audience. Report says Patterson gave WDIA a bad
check, and his Sunday radio broadcasts were
taken off the air. Subsequently, Patterson
organized a boycott that drew key support from
Lance Watson and other young radicals. Patterson
died in 2007.
Howell S.
Lowe
FBI agent. Assisted agent Lawrence in Memphis
domestic spy operations, 1968-70. Worked closely
with Withers. Wrote frequent reports during volatile
sanitation strike, 1968. Testified before Congress
in closed session, 1978. Following domestic
intelligence stint, worked criminal cases. That
includes work in late 1970s on Memphis angles of
Gov. Ray Blanton's cash-for-pardons case, a scandal
that included prosecution of Withers. Never
publically discussed his connection to Withers. Died
Jan. 1.
James
Lawson
Minister; co-founder, Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee. Invited Dr. King to Memphis
to support striking sanitation workers. The day King
arrived - Mar. 18, 1968 - FBI agents debriefed
Withers. The informant said Lawson, a friend,
opposed the Vietnam War; planned to bring
left-leaning Milwaukee priest, Father James Groppi,
to Memphis; and was planning a personal trip to East
Bloc nation of Czechoslovakia. Withers also gave
agents a pro-strike newsletter that Lawson produced.
Withers told of Lawson's ties, and differences, to
local militants. Now 81, he’s retired in Los
Angeles.
O.W. Pickett
Real estate agent; city council candidate, 1967,
1971. Identified as a supporter of the Invaders in
FBI reports copied to Withers' informant file. One
chronicles Invader takeover of the administration
building at LeMoyne-Owen College, Nov. 1968. Notes
that Pickett took food and supplies to the
occupiers. Pickett was also seen there giving "the
Black Power handshake" to Invaders. Another report
describes Pickett as a supporter of Invaders founder
Charles Cabbage. Later report, 1970, again copied to
Withers' file, notes Pickett was considering running
for Congress. Died, 2002.
* *
* * *
Beale St.
museum to celebrate prolific photographer Ernest
Withers—By Michael Lollar—September 2,
2010—Ernest Withers became a rookie photographer in
the Army during World War II. When his namesake
museum opens on Beale Street next month, it will
celebrate the legend he became.
Withers died in
2007 at age 85, but his work will return to the
street he captured on film with the opening of the
Ernest Withers Museum, scheduled Oct. 15 in the
studio he occupied at 333 Beale.
The opening on
the third anniversary of Withers' death will take
place while the Withers family negotiates with the
Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress
about possible acquisition of the bulk of a
collection of more than a million photographs shot
during Withers' 60-year career.
Any acquisition
would be structured to allow the Withers family to
retain commercial rights to the collection, said
Withers' daughter, Rosalind Withers, trustee of the
collection. . . . Withers traveled with King and his
entourage during the civil rights movement, and with
James Meredith on his "March Against Fear" in 1966.
Meredith, who had integrated the University of
Mississippi in 1962, organized the march to prove
"that a black man could walk through Mississippi"
without being harassed. Ten miles into the 225-mile
march from Memphis to Jackson, Miss., Meredith was
shot.
Withers
photographed black people smiling as they registered
to vote for the first time. He photographed them
attending the Memphis Zoo on the one day of the week
they were allowed to visit. He photographed Army
tanks stationed on a boarded-up Beale Street after
the murder of King. He photographed young white men
carrying a poster that said, "Segregation or War."— CommercialAppeal
* * *
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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Age of Silver: Encounters with Great Photographers
By John Loengard
Age of Silver is iconic American photographer John Loengard’s ode to the art form to which he dedicated his life. Loengard, a longtime staff photographer and editor for LIFE magazine and other publications, spent years documenting modern life for the benefit of the American public. Over the years he trained his camera on dignitaries, artists, athletes, intellectuals, blue and whitecollar workers, urban and natural landscapes, manmade objects, and people of all types engaged in the act of living. In
Age of Silver, Loengard gathers his portraits of some of the most important photographers of the last half-century, including Annie Leibovitz, Ansel Adams, Man Ray, Richard Avedon, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many, many others. Loengard caught them at home and in the studio; posed portraits and candid shots of the artists at work and at rest. Complimenting these revealing, expertly composed portraits are elegant photographs of the artists holding their favorite or most revered negatives. This extra dimension to the project offers an inside peek at the artistic process and is a stark reminder of the physicality of the photographic practice at a time before the current wave of digital dominance. There is no more honest or faithful reproduction of life existent in the world of image making than original, untouched silver negatives. Far from an attempt to put forth a singular definition of modern photographic practice, this beautifully printed, duotone monograph instead presents evidence of the unique vision and extremely personal style of every artist pictured. Annie Leibovitz is quoted in her caption as once saying, “I am always perplexed when people say that a photograph has captured someone. A photograph is just a piece of them in a moment. It seems presumptuous to think you can get more than that.” —PowerhouseBooks |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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update
2 March 2012
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