The Revolution in Black and White: Photographs of the Civil Rights Era by Ernest C. Withers

FEATURING RICHARD CAHAN – It has been more than half a century since the civil rights movement of the United States was in its hey-day, demanding racial justice for African Americans with leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pushing the federal government for full civil rights through powerful mobilizations. No one has perhaps captured the visual imagery of the civil rights era more prolifically and beautifully than Ernest C. Withers.

Withers captured thousands of images of black Americans, activists, leaders, and cultural figures such as musicians and dancers. His photography is gathered together in a stunning new book called The Revolution in Black and White: Photographs of the Civil Rights Era by Ernest C. Withers, by my guest Richard Cahan in collaboration with Michael Williams and with a foreword by Andrew Young.

Richard Cahan, journalist who writes about photography, art and history.  He worked for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1983 to 1999, primarily serving as the paper’s picture editor. He is the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including Un-American, about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as Aftershock: The Human Toll of War – Haunting World War II Images by America’s Soldier Photographers. His new book together with Michael Williams is called The Revolution in Black and White: Photographs of the Civil Rights Era by Ernest C. Withers. His forthcoming book is River of Blood, a book based on the interviews of formerly enslaved Americans.