I Am A Man, Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tennessee

March 28, 1968

Ernest C. Withers

Associated Names
Ernest C. Withers

Artist, American, 1922 - 2007

This is a photograph of a large group holding signs that read "I Am A Man." Numerous individuals are gathered closely together in an organized line along a street. Each person in the group is holding a sign that displays the phrase "I Am A Man." The signs are held aloft, creating a wall of text that stretches across the scene. The background features a large building and several bare trees. The photograph conveys a message through the repetition of the phrase on the signs, focusing on themes of identity and dignity.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund

  • Dimensions

    image: 19 × 32.6 cm (7 1/2 × 12 13/16 in.)
    sheet: 27.9 × 35.9 cm (11 × 14 1/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2023.87.1


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Estate of the artist; (Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York); NGA purchase, 2023.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2022

  • Afro-Atlantic Histories, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 2022 - 2024, unnumbered catalogue.

Inscriptions

on verso, signed by artist, lower right in graphite: Ernest C. Withers; by unknown hand, bottom left in graphite: AP3; bottom center: PF147899; bottom right: EW-65-02-42


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