I Am A Man; from the portfolio I Am A Man

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I Am A Man; from the portfolio I Am A Man

Artist Ernest C. Withers American, 1922 - 2007

Publisher Panopticon Press, Tony Decaneas, Waltham, MA

Datephotographs: 1956-1968; portfolio: 1994

Dimensionssheet: 15 15/16 x 19 13/16 in. (40.5 x 50.3 cm)
image: 11 11/16 x 18 13/16 in. (29.7 x 47.8 cm)
Sheet, according to WAC form: 11 x 14 in. (27.9 x 35.6 cm)

MediumGelatin silver print

ClassificationPhotographs

Credit LineMrs. George W. Stevens Fund

Object number

2003.46A

Not on View

Published Referencescf.: Pictures Tell a Story (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2000) cf.: Let Us March On! Selected Civil Rights photographs of Ernest C. Withers, 1955-1968 (Boston: Massachusetts College of Art, 1992)Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, People Get Ready: 50 Years of Civil Rights, June 27-September 21, 2014.

Label TextAfrican American freelance photographer Ernest Withers documented many of the most important events of the Civil Rights Era, from the galvanizing murder trial of Emmett Till in 1955 through the Montgomery bus boycott, the marches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the rise of Black Power, and Dr. King’s assassination. His insightful images had a wide impact, helping to enact social change. “I was trained as a high school student in history,” Withers said. “But I didn’t know that I would be recording the high multitude of imagery and history that I did record.” The I Am a Man portfolio of 10 photographs taken from 1956 through 1968 was assembled by Withers and published in 1994. In September 2010, three years after Withers’ death, evidence emerged that Withers had spent time on the payroll of the FBI, providing information to J. Edgar Hoover on civil rights events and leaders, including King and suspected black militants. The revelation has understandably caused controversy and a re-examination of Withers’ career. Question: Does this information affect the way you see Withers’ photographs? Should it?