Revolution in Black and White: Photographs of the Civil Rights Era by Ernest Withers

by Ernest C. Withers (Photographer), Richard Cahan (Editor), Michael Williams (Editor)

Ernest C. Withers was one of the most prominent African-American photographers of the civil rights era. During the course of his work, he took thousands photographs that document the civil rights movement--from the Emmett Till trial in 1955 to the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. What set his work apart was that he goes beyond the political struggles to explain the civil rights movement that changed the country. Withers was primarily a local photographer, working as a freelancer for the Memphis World and Tri-State Defender starting in 1948. His photographs of the everyday world--bridge clubs, funerals, people at work and play, and street life--create a stunning record of what it was like to live in Memphis and the Mid-South. He was also a noted baseball photographer, documenting Negro League baseball in Memphis, and a noted music photographer, taking thousands of photographs of jazz, blues, rock 'n' roll and R&B performers.

This book combines this work for the first time and uses first-hand accounts of people who lived in the South to explain these transformative years. The photographs, taken as bare-bones journalism, rises to the level of fine art decades later.

They are also important examples of photojournalism, documenting decades of struggle in Memphis and the Mid-South. They serve as an important missing link in the civil rights narrative.

In 2010, three years after his death, the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper published a series of articles that showed that Withers was a paid informant of the FBI. This book goes beyond the headlines to show how Withers created an essential record for all of us to better understand life in the South during this crucial era.

Genres: History, Photography, Nonfiction

264 pages, Hardcover

Published November 15, 2019

Reviews

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving and emotional! I grew up in this time period and recall many of these marches and protests. I was watching tv when MLK was assassinated. I remember segregation and discrimination but I never understood it. My mother sent us to private school when the school system in Baton Rouge was integrated. A good friend who was Black and in my classes educated me on many things - including the fact that her parents were not happy we were friends!

I don’t believe we have solved the Civil Rights issue even today and it is heartbreaking. This book of pictures is an historical treasure but the history of Equality for all is not finished.

[Luciano Elementi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's go through history the real way: with pictures.
No memory of episodes, not too much storytelling but astonishingly beautiful pictures. Factual record of the happening not long ago. This documents are important, their preservation essential. Let them tell you about heritage, humanity, and classes. Photography from nonetheless than Ernest C. Withers beautiful, beautiful shots. Highly recommended a look and read.
Thank you goes also to the editor for the wonderful edition, size, and bounding

[kiley ! · Rating 5 out of 5]

i went to the ernest c withers museum on beale street and i had to buy this book. a picture is truly worth a thousand words and it humanizes every aspect of the civil rights movement. all these photos should be in the history books

[Jbondandrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing and moving collection of photographs. I always find photos to be a very poignant way of documenting history.

[Breanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book gave you memories during the 60s on how black American lived in United States with pictures. It was just amazing.

[el · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with infamous photos I have to look at every few years to remind me what my family experienced so that I could be here today with a voice, voting power, my own bank account. etc etc.