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Ten North Group (previously Opa-locka Community Development Corporation) is pleased to present Flash Points: The Photography of Ernest C. Withers, an exhibition showcasing 41 original photographs by the revered Memphis-born photographer who documented and shaped the visual narrative of the Civil Rights Movement. Curated in partnership with Ms. Rosalind Withers, Director of the Ernest Withers Museum and Collection of Memphis, Tennessee, and daughter of the artist, Flash Points explores the cognitive character of Black struggle through Withers’ politics of creation as a Black photographer working within the American South. Flash Points runs now through August 31, 2023, at The Arts and Recreation Center (The ARC), 675 Ali Baba Ave, Opa-Locka, FL 33054.
In conversation with the remembrance of Juneteenth, Flash Points argues for the pictorial expansion of Blackness and the presentation of history without filter. The exhibition bears witness to the historical tipping points that galvanized the actions and resulting outcomes of The Poor People’s Campaign, the public understanding of Emmett Till’s murder and subsequent trial, the fallout of evictions that led to Fayette County’s Tent City, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Ernest C. Withers (August 7, 1922 – October 15, 2007) was an African American photojournalist who documented over 60 years of African American history and was often the only photographer to record these scenes, many of which were ignored by the mainstream press. He formed personal and complex relationships with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Andrew Young, and Mamie Till-Mobley, and his coverage of the Emmett Till murder trial brought national attention to the racist violence taking place during the 1950s in Mississippi, among other places.
Flash Points emerges as the Black experience is threatened by legislation–including the banning of books written by Black authors, the censorship of Black history, and voter suppression–all of which accentuate the continued oppression and attempted erasure of Black people. Flash Points considers how the work of Ernest C. Withers has contributed to the chronicling of African Americans’ struggles by capturing the contours of collective resistance; a jigsaw amalgamation of the pain and joy of quotidian life; the rejection of the status quo; and the faces of those who came to embody the struggle for the protection of individual rights.
About Ten North Group
Ten North Group (formerly Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation) is a forty-year-old affordable housing developer and community builder. Ten North is determined to build wealth in under-resourced communities through creative placemaking—the act of using the arts and culture to write the future stories of previously overlooked places. To that end, Ten North purchases art, commissions works of public art, is in the process of offering residency programs in the United States and Africa and is the steward of an important collection of African and African Diaspora modern and contemporary art with over 100 works.
Ten North has built over 2,500 units of affordable housing and 145 single-family homes. Its current real estate portfolio consists of historic properties, commercial parcels, and over 1,200 affordable housing units. In addition, Ten North’s social, educational, and financial programs have served close to 4,000 youths, 6,250 children and families, and close to 2,500 first-time home buyers, and its CDFI has provided loans and technical assistance to over 1,500 small business owners and entrepreneurs.
About Ernest C. Withers
Ernest C. Withers (August 7, 1922 – October 15, 2007) was an African American photojournalist. He documented over 60 years of African American history in the segregated Southern United States, with iconic images of the Montgomery bus boycott, Emmett Till’s assassination, the Memphis sanitation strike, Negro league baseball, and musicians including those related to Memphis blues and Memphis soul. Between 1 million and 5 million images are estimated to have been taken during Withers’ career, with current efforts in progress for preservation and digitization.
The Ernest Withers Museum and Collection opened in Memphis, Tennessee, on Beale Street in May 2011. The Museum features images of Ernest C. Withers spanning the eras of his work, while the complete archive is held in an offsite location. Withers’ work has been archived by the Library of Congress. His works appeared in The New York Times, Jet, Ebony, Newsweek, and Life and were featured in touring exhibits and shows around the country. For his life’s work, Withers was elected to the Black Press Hall of Fame and received an honorary doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Art.
