Ernest Withers
| Dr. Ernest Columbus Withers, Sr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 7, 1922 |
| Died | October 15, 2007 (aged 85) |
| Occupation | Freelance photographer, Memphis policeman |
| Notable work |
Photographs of the segregated South in the 1940s-2000s, Negro league baseball, and the Memphis blues scene, Pictures Tell the Story by Ernest C. Withers, other books including Ernest C. Withers The Memphis Blues Again-Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs, and many Jet Magazine photographs and more. Great Grandchildren Darrell Wilburn,Lauren Tyus,Arianna Norton,Hasani Withers,Kendi Withers, |
| Home town | Memphis, Tennessee |
Photographs of the segregated South in the 1940s-2000s, Negro league baseball, and the Memphis blues scene, Pictures Tell the Story by Ernest C. Withers, other books including Ernest C. Withers The Memphis Blues Again-Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs, and many Jet Magazine photographs and more.
Dr. Ernest C. Withers (August 7, 1922 – October 15, 2007) was an American photojournalist. He is best known for capturing over 60 years of African American history in the segregated South, with iconic images of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Emmett Till, Sanitation Worker's Strike, Negro league baseball, and musicians including those related to Memphis blues and Memphis soul.
Ernest Withers work has been archived by the Library of Congress and has been slated for the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution's in-progress National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Ernest C. Withers was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Arthur Withers and Pearl Withers of Marshall County, Mississippi; he had a step-mother known as Mrs. Minnie Withers. Ba Ba [Father] Withers exhibited interest in photography from a young age. He took his first photograph in high school after his sister gave him a camera she received from a classmate. He met his wife Dorothy Curry of Brownsville, Tennessee (they remained married for 66 years), at Manassas High School in Memphis, Tennessee.
During World War II he received training at the Army School of Photography. After the war, Withers served as one of Memphis' first African-American police officers.
Dr. Withers and his wife Dorothy had eight children together (seven boys and one girl, Rosalind Withers). He also had a second daughter from Memphis, Tennessee named Frances Williams. All of his sons accompanied him as apprentice photographers at different points in his career, including Ernest, Jr., Perry O., Clarence (Joshua), E., Wendell J., Dedrick (Teddy) J., Dyral L., and Andrew (Rome). His business was called Withers Photography Studio.
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