Photographer Ernest Withers’ work featured at Boulder’s Dairy Arts Center

By Jay McKinney

NAACP Boulder County presents a live performance by DJ Soul Lorain from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Dairy Arts Center. Enjoy the performance and take a docent-led tour of the photography exhibit. Soul Lorain is a multidisciplinary artist, conversant as a model, actress, dancer, and yogi.

Photographs tell history in a way that words cannot. For the remainder of Black History Month, the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder is exhibiting the photography from famed photojournalist, Ernest Withers. The exhibit, titled Walk With Me, opened Jan. 16 and will be on view until Feb. 27.

It is open to the public for free Monday through Friday and on the weekends by special arrangement. Visitors can also opt for a docent-led tour of the exhibit on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 2 or 4 p.m.

The exhibit includes more than 100 photographs documenting black history in activism, sports, music, politics, and everyday life. Withers’ career spanned from the 1940s until the 2000s, before he died in 2007. Through his lens, he documented major events in the segregated Southern U.S., including the Memphis Sanitation Strike, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Emmett Till’s murder and the subsequent trial. Withers also spent a considerable amount of time with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he captured his role in the civil rights movement.

Those who visit the exhibit will be wowed by the collection of black and white photographs, and it’s a great educational opportunity. Images that show the harsh realities of segregation will resonate with people and remind them of the country’s contentious past while also serving as inspiration to strive for a better future. On Feb. 12 and 19 at 3 p.m., the exhibit will feature Black Experience in Art, which will include live performances by musicians, dancers and poets.

Withers also photographed musicians such as Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, B.B. King and others. It is estimated that he took nearly 5 million photographs throughout his career, with new photos being discovered as his collection becomes digitized.

Those who can’t make it to the exhibit in Boulder can view the photojournalist’s work through the Withers digital archive. The archive contains 1.8 million photographs taken throughout his career, and prints of Withers’ photographs are available for purchase.

Jay McKinney is a Colorado native who recently graduated from Metro State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He loves spending time outdoors, playing golf and hiking.