Ernest Withers: Memphis Blues Again February 9, 2005

Taken from the High's website:

This exhibition features more than thirty works by the great Southern photographer Ernest Withers. Born in 1922, Withers has photographed life there for more than six decades. Widely recognized for his photographs of the Beale Street music scene, the civil rights movement, and the Negro Baseball Leagues, he has always been on intimate terms with his subject matter. After being invited to join the ranks of Memphis' first black police force in 1949, Withers gained improved access to the city. In subsequent years, he documented the emergence of many musical greats such as B.B. King, Al Green, Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin.

Memphis a city famed for its cultural and musical history. Central to the civil rights movement, and commonly considered the birthplace of the blues and rock and roll, Memphis has made a fundamental contribution to the fabric of American culture. Throughout the early 1900s, Beale Street grew to become one of the most important social, cultural, and economic centers for the African-American community in the South.

Memphis Blues Again focuses on the 1950s through the 1970s, a period preceding and encompassing the apex of the civil right movement. The energy and momentum that fed this social revolution was reflected in the music created and performed in Memphis. More than just portraits of the artists we have come to know and love, these images are glimpses of history in the making.

Withers continues to live and work in Memphis.