Ernest Withers

Ernest Withers lived and photographed in Memphis, TN, a crossroad for the Civil Rights Movement. Withers also documented the music scene on Beale Street, the Negro Baseball League and black social life in Memphis.

Withers played a key roll in the Civil Rights Movement as a result of his photographic document of the Emmett Till trial. He was witness to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Medgar Evers Funeral, the Integration of Little Rock High School, the Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike and the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination and funeral.

To inquire about photographs by Ernest Withers, contact the gallery.

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    Ernest Withers, Sanitation workers assemble in front of Clayborn Temple for a solidarity march.

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    Ernest Withers, Mule Train leaves for Washington, Poor People's March, Marks, MS May 1968 2006

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    Ernest Withers, Overton Park Zoo. One day a week was designated for Blacks only (all other days for Whites only). Memphis, TN 1950's

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    Ernest Withers, William Edwin Jones pushes daughter Renee Andrewnetta Jones (8 months old) during protest march on Main St., Memphis, TN August 1961 (Renee Andrewnetta later became a physician.)

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    Ernest Withers, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stopped by police at Medgar Evers funeral, Jackson, MS, June, 1963

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    Ernest Withers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy ride on one of the first desegregated buses, Montgomery, AL, December 21, 1956.

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    Ernest Withers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. resting in the Lorraine Motel following the March Against Fear, Memphis, TN, 1966, reading the Memphis Press-Scimitar. Headline reads, King Takes Over For Meredith; Suspect Jailed - $25,000 Bond. Less than two years after this photo was taken, Dr. King was assassinated outside of his room on the balcony of this motel.

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    Ernest Withers, Memorial March after assassination of MLK, Main St Memphis, April 8, 1968

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    Ernest Withers, James Brown, Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, TN, ca. 1965

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    Ernest Withers, Overton Park Zoo. Memphis, TN 1950's

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    Ernest Withers, Bumper sticker campaign organized by the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, Moun df Bayou, MS

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    Ernest Withers, Ernie Banks, Larry Doby, Matty Brescia, Jackie Robinson, Martin's Stadium 1953.

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    Ernest Withers, Desegregation of Central High School by 'Little Rock Nine.' (L to R) Carlotta Walls, Melba Patillio, Elizabeth Eckford and Minnie Jean Brown. Note white students waiting on steps to protest their arrival. Little Rock, AR, 1957.

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    Ernest Withers, Ernest Withers with his 1941 Ford station wagon, late 1940's

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    Ernest Withers, In front of Clayborn Temple, Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, March 28, 1968.

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    Ernest Withers, Funeral procession for Dr King on Auburn St, after leaving ML King Sr.'s church, Atlanta, GA, April, 1968. Jesse Jackson in center with flag, Harry Belafonte in procession, casket carried by mule carriage.

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    Ernest Withers, Martin Luther King Jr., Metropolitan Baptist Church, Memphis, 1967.

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    Ernest Withers, Twins at WDIA, 1948

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    Ernest Withers, B.B. King's Tour Bus, 'Big Red', Beale Street, c. 1956

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    Ernest Withers, Isaac Hayes in his office at Stax Records, Memphis, TN, November, 1970s.

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    Ernest Withers, Elvis Presley with B.B. King, "The Two Kings", Goodwill Review, Memphis, TN, 1957.

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    Ernest Withers, Brook Benton and Elvis Presley, WDIA Goodwill Revue, Ellis Auditorium, Memphis, TN, December 6, 1957

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    Ernest Withers, Ike and Tina Turner, Club Paradise, c. 1962

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    Ernest Withers, Tina Turner with Ikette, Club Paradise, Memphis, 1960's.

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    Ernest Withers, B.B. King with Bill Harvey, Hippodrome, Beale Street, Memphis c. 1950

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    Ernest Withers, Ruth Brown, The Hippodrome, Beale St, Memphis, 1950's

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    Ernest Withers, Lionel Hampton, The Hippodrome, Memphis, TN, mid 1950's