Ernest Withersmight not be the best - known name of the civil rights movement , but he was its comfortably - known photographer . As a photojournalist , Withers becharm incredible images of key second in American account . From the iconic image ofEmmett Till’smutilated body to the now - legendary shot of sanitation workers standing shoulder to shoulder in Memphis , Tennessee , carrying signs that interpret , " I Am a Man , " Withers ' photos open awareness about the injustice of Black America .
But his legacy acquire a little more complicated in 2010.The Commercial Appealnewspaper , which spread over Memphis , discovered Withers fundamentally lived a double life , having solve as a paid informant for the FBI for years . Was he a traitor to thecivil rights movementhe so articulately photographed or is there more to his narrative ?
Who Was Ernest Withers?
Ernest Withers guide picture taking lessons in the U.S. Army while he served during World War II in the Pacific Theater . After the war , he worked as a beat cop on Beale Street in his hometown of Memphis as one of the first Black law officers . Thanks to that beat , he was capable to photograph some of the soon - to - be - legends in medicine history , from B.B. King and Aretha Franklin to Ike and Tina Turner .
Withers was prominentin the civil rightfield crusade , too . He was the only lensman to document the entire Emmett Till murder test , and he captured Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph David Abernathy tease the first integrate bus in Montgomery , Alabama . He also photographed the " Little Rock Nine " at Central High School in Arkansas in 1957 afterBrown v. Board of Educationoutlawed segregation in public schools .
Other noteworthy thing in history he captured include the Montgomery Bus Boycott , Medgar Evers ' funeral , theBlack Panther Partyand the Lorraine Motel after MLK ’s blackwash . In all , he take an estimated1.8 million photosof Black life story during his 60 - year career .
After Withers drop dead in 2007 from a stroke , Commercial Appeal newsperson Marc Perrusquia startedworking on Withers ' biographyfor the paper . That ’s when a former FBI agent told Perrusquia that they never get at to bug King ’s meetings because they had Withers . But the source refused to distinguish Perrusquia more .
Perrusquia spent year investigating the fib , petition the FBI withFreedom of Information Actrequests to discover the truth of this informant , until , after a extended lawsuit , many of Withers ' classified records were released . That ’s when Perrusquia finally determined that Withers , in fact , worked as an informantfor the FBI throughout the sixties .
Why Did the FBI Watch the Civil Rights Movement?
It ’s still not clear why the FBI was monitoring the front of civil right activists , but history has show that then - FBI director J. Edgar Hoover believedKing was influenced by Communist . However , Withers ' motivations are not understood ; some think he was in it for the money to brook his family of eight children . Perrusquia determined the FBI pay Withers about $ 20,000 ; that ’s about $ 170,000 in today ’s money . Others think he may have had some anti - communistic feelings himself , since several of his sons fight in the Vietnam War .
But Withers also had a history of corruption . In 1948 , helost his job as a law officerfor bootlegging whiskey , and in 1981 , he was also caught up in acash - for - mercy scandalwith a Tennessee judge , where criminals were basically able to buy their way out of prison house . Withers testified against the evaluator , having slew a deal with the state . But even with the bet that luxuriously , he never revealed his work for the FBI .
What Is Ernest Withers' Legacy?
Since the newsworthiness about Withers being an informant broke in 2010,it ’s been receivedwith sundry feelings . Some polite rights drawing card felt that they were betrayed and their confidence abused . Others , like Ambassador Andrew Young , who was a lieutenant of MLK , told The New Yorkerthat he ’s not surprised by Withers ' double life because at the time they felt the FBI beleaguer everything , but they did n’t suspect Withers himself .
The lateDr . Manning Marable , who was the founding director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University and one most prestigious scholars on the Black American experience , also reserved sagacity when hespoke to The New Yorker in 2010 .
" It ’s important to remember the clip within which he lived , and the unreasonable pressure to inform,“he say . " The practiced thing we can say about Withers is that he play a threefold part , as an source who doubtless disrupt the trend , but also as a photographer who used his talents on behalf of protagonism , societal justice and equality . "
Withers is the field of study of a new documentary titled " The Picture Taker , " which premiered on PBS Jan. 30 , 2023 . The flick , produced and take by Emmy and Peabody Award winner Phil Bertelsen , includes archival testimony from Withers ' FBI supervising federal agent William Lawrence , plus raw interviews with Lawrence ’s girl and other civil right activists who were once close to Withers .
" There is almost no one else in contemporary U.S. chronicle who has chronicled African American life with such astuteness and familiarity as Ernest Withers , " Phil Bertelsen said in a press statement . " We set out to capture the complexness of Withers , from his undeniable attainment and contribution to Black history , civilization and news media as a whole , to the rudimentary interrogative sentence of his work with the FBI and how it bear upon that legacy . We wanted to honor Withers ' work , his biotic community and the labor of activists by using his picture to convey the reality of the unintegrated South for future propagation . "
