Artwork Page for I Am a Man

Details / Information for I Am a Man

I Am a Man

1968, printed 1994

Ernest C. Withers

(American, 1922–2007)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print
Measurements
Image: 21.6 x 37.7 cm (8 1/2 x 14 13/16 in.); Paper: 40.3 x 50.3 cm (15 7/8 x 19 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
L. E. Holden Fund 2023.53
Copyright
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Black photojournalist Ernest C. Withers is celebrated for his documentation of six decades of the fight for racial justice in the American South.

Description

In 1787 English potter Josiah Wedgewood created an anti-slavery medallion which bore the phrase “Am I not a man and a brother?” In March 1968, striking Black sanitation workers in Memphis inverted that phrase, declaring instead of asking: “I am a Man.” Their version became a modern rallying cry for equal treatment.

I Am a Man

1968, printed 1994

Ernest C. Withers

(American, 1922–2007)
America

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