Ernest Withers

Photographer

• Born: August 7, 1922
• Birthplace: Memphis, Tennessee
• Died: October 15, 2007
• Place of death: Memphis, Tennessee

Withers took photographs of some of the most important events of the Civil Rights movement during the 1950’s and 1960’s. He captured famous images of the Emmett Till murder trial and Martin Luther King, Jr., among other major figures. After his death, it was revealed that he had worked covertly for the U.S. government, helping to monitor civil rights activists.

Early Life

Ernest Withers was born on August 7, 1922, in Memphis, Tennessee. Little is known about his mother; his father was a postal worker. Withers grew up with an interest in cameras, starting with his very first as a teenager. He borrowed a Brownie camera from his sister’s boyfriend and took pictures around his hometown. One of his first pictures was of acclaimed boxer Joe Louis’s wife, who visited his school.

Withers’s interest in photography was interrupted by the onset of World War II. Even though Withers entered the Army, however, he was not deterred from his passion for long. The Army had set up a school of photography that Withers was able to attend. He began to take even more pictures, including ones of his fellow soldiers that they were able to send home to their families.

When the war ended, Withers’s experience in civil and military service enabled him to become a policeman in the Memphis area. However, he soon realized that what he really wanted to pursue in life was photography.

Life’s Work

Withers’s early jobs as a photographer were modest. He started taking photos of events and happenings in his community, from baseball games to weddings. One of Withers’s biggest projects at this time was taking pictures of Negro American League baseball players such as Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays. Withers also took pictures of famous musicians such as Elvis Presley, B. B. King, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin.

Withers’s legacy rests on his images of the Civil Rights movement. His work in this field began in late 1955 when Emmett Till, an African American teenager from Chicago, was killed in Mississippi. Withers took photos of Till’s battered face and his mother crying after Till’s killers were acquitted. The striking photographs helped bring the lynching to national attention at the same time it helped Withers become more visible as a photojournalist.

Withers’s most prominent assignments came when he worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr., at the height of the Civil Rights movement. Withers traveled with King and became close with several African American activists. He took photographs of King riding integrated buses in Montgomery, the enrollment of the first African American student at the University of Mississippi, and many other landmark events. Many of his photographs were iconic, bringing the people and issues of the Civil Rights movement to audiences nationwide. Withers died in October 15, 2007, of complications from a stroke.

In 2010, it was also revealed that Withers had worked as a confidential informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Withers reported on the movements and activities of the civil rights leaders he photographed, including King.

Significance

Withers occupied a lofty position as the unofficial photographer of the Civil Rights movement. Enjoying unparalleled access to the leaders and major events of that tumultuous era, Withers captured images that became symbolic of the movement itself. His extensive work has been published in several books. The revelations that Withers also reported on civil rights activities to the FBI demonstrates the government’s wariness of African American activism and the reach of its domestic intelligence activities. Withers was a respected confidant of leaders such as King, and his unmasking as an FBI informer years after his death came as a shock to many of his contemporaries.

Bibliography

“Ernest Withers: Photographer Who in Documenting the Civil Rights Movement Contributed to Its Success.” The Times of London, October 27, 2007. This obituary goes into great detail about Withers’s photographs of the Emmett Till murder trial and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hurley, Jack F., Brooks Johnson, Ernest Withers, and Daniel Wolff. Pictures Tell the Story: Ernest C. Withers Reflections in History. Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2000. Collection of many photographs taken by Withers throughout his life, including pictures of baseball players and jazz musicians in addition to the images of the Civil Rights movement.

Perrusquia, Marc. “Photographer Ernest Withers Doubled as FBI Informant to Spy on Civil Rights Movement.” The Memphis Commercial Appeal, September 12, 2010. This investigative report reveals details of Withers’s work for the FBI.

Till-Mobley, Mamie, and Christopher Benson. Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America. New York: Random House, 2003. This memoir by Emmett Till’s mother includes discussion of Withers’s role in photographing the trial of Till’s killers.