Ernest Withers (August 7, 1922 – October 15, 2007) was an African American freelance photographer famous for his black and white images of the segregated South in the 1950s and 60s, Negro league baseball, and the Memphis blues scene.
His images captured Americana for nearly 60 years, preserving the good and the bad, in particular, racism. He traveled with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his public life. Withers' coverage of the Emmett Till murder trial brought national attention to the racial violence taking place in, among other places, Mississippi, in the 1950s. Withers appeared in a TV documentary about the murdered 13-year-old entitled "The American Experience: The Murder of Emmett Till".[cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/arts/design/17withers.html?ref=arts|title=Ernest Withers, Civil Rights Photographer, Dies at 85|accessdate=2007-10-17 |author=|date= |work= |publisher=New York Times] ]He died from the complications of a stroke in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. [cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/arts/design/17withers.html?ref=arts|title=Ernest Withers, Civil Rights Photographer, Dies at 85|accessdate=2007-10-17 |author=|date= |work= |publisher=New York Times] ]Publications
*cite book|last=Worley|first=William|title=Beale Street: Crossroads of America's Music |publisher=Addax Pub Group Inc|year=1998|isbn=1886110182
*cite book|last=Withers|first=Ernest|title=Pictures Tell the Story : Ernest C. Withers Reflections in History |publisher=Chrysler Museum of Art|year=2000|isbn=0940744686
*cite book|last=Withers|first=Ernest|title=The Memphis Blues Again: Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs|publisher=Studio|year=2001|isbn=0670030317
*cite book|last=Withers|first=Ernest|title=Negro League Baseball|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|year=2005|isbn=0810955857
References
External links
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2747658.ece Obituary in "The Times", 27 October 2007]
* [http://www.nathanielturner.com/ernestwithers.htm Bio-Sketch at Nathanielturner.com]
