The Withers Collection Museum & Gallery houses the work of Ernest Withers Sr., an internationally acclaimed photographer and photojournalist recognized for his iconic photographs of Memphis and the broader South during the civil rights era. Withers documented a history that still resonates today, capturing the momentous and often dangerous upheaval of America’s Civil Rights Movement across the South from the late 1940s through the 1960s. Apart from documenting those fighting for racial justice and equity, Withers gained acclaim by capturing the African American experience, creating a singular record of day-to-day life in an effort to better illustrate and understand life in the South during this crucial era. His vast archive (estimated at 1.8 million images) also includes images of famed Memphians who brought soul, rock ’n’ roll and the blues to the world. Withers’ photographs have been published extensively in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Life, Jet and Ebony. The Withers Collection Museum & Gallery opened to the public in February 2011.
