The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

I Am a Man

1968, printed 1994

Ernest C. Withers

(American, 1922–2007)
America
gelatin silver print
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.)
L. E. Holden Fund 2023.53
Location: Not on view

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.
  • ?-2023
    (Gitterman Gallery, New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    June 5, 2023-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=I Am a Man|url=false|author=Ernest C. Withers|year=1968, printed 1994|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.53