Photographer Ernest Withers Died

October 17, 2007

Ernest Withers, who is named as one of the most important photographers of the 20th century, passed away in Memphis at the age of 85. Withers took pictures of the most important artists in Memphis like Elvis, Rufus Thomas, BB King, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin en followed Dr. Martin Luther King in the 50s and 60s and other important people of the civil rights movements. One of the well known pictures of Withers is from a young Elvis with BB King. Withers started his career as a freelancer and worked for important newspapers like Newsweek, Time Magazine and the New York Times.

Source:

ElvisMatters

Sirbalkan wrote on October 17, 2007

May he rest in peace.... Well time goes on and big ones(and good ones...) keep leaving this world... :(

Bill E. Burk wrote on October 17, 2007

Try Again: I first met Ernest Withers as a young reporter for the Memphis Press-Scimitar in May1957 when my newspaper hired him to go with me to photograph the final graduating class of S. A. Owen Junior College in Memphis, which was being closed and then merged into LeMoyne College, to make it LeMoyne-Owen. We became close friends instantly and have treasured each other's friendship for 50 years. In that I was the principal P-S writer covering the important Civil Rights movement in the South, often our paths would cross -- each of us with a camera around our necks -- recording history in the making. On a couple of occasions in Mississippi, when the sheriffs ordered "NO pictures," I was able to sneak pictures where Ernest could not, so I loaned them to him so he could service his growing market of mainly (in those days) black magazines. Once he had a son seriously injured in an accident in far away West Texas. He called asking my help and I arranged for my Air National Guard unit to fly a "mercy flight" out to El Paso to pick the boy up and fly him to the hospital in Memphis. Ernest Withers was first and foremost a gentleman; a family man; a trusted friend. The World was a far better place when he walked this Earth. May God be with him in Eternity.

Elvisnites wrote on October 17, 2007

Bill E. Burk-They were beautiful comments for your friend, may he rest in peace. Thank you for posting it.

Harvey Alexander wrote on October 18, 2007

Is it just me or was Bill Burk trying to hijack this post? Why must he always try to involve himself? Me! Me! Me! I've enjoyed Mr. Withers' photos for years now. He had a great way of capturing his subjects - even when they were dead (Sam Cooke in his coffin). But my favourite is the one of Elvis with Brook Benton at the WDIA Goodwill Revue. Classic photo (and nothing to do with Bill Jerk).