William Speer

J. C. Coovert

J. C. Coverrt was the most important photographer of the Mississippi Delta in his generation.  Born in Kentucky, he moved to Memphis at the turn of the century, and established a studio where he quickly became part of the extraordinary pulse of the growing city.  He completely explored and exploited Memphis - the riverboat landing, the financial center of Front Street, the busy Main Street district, and the nearby cotton fields.  His pictures of African American workers harvesting cotton have been seen all over the world and today can still be seen at the Library of Congress in Washington D. C.

J. C. Coovert

Cabinet Photo

Memphis from the Landing     

Coovert Logo

Madison 1910s

Tableau 1906-10

Cobblestones C. 1900

1897 Camp

Cotton Series

1912 Flood

Coovert

Memphis Landing    

Girl & Doll    

Hooks Brothers, Henry and Robert

The Hooks Brothers Photography Studio was established by Henry A. Hooks and his brother Robert B. Hooks, and was the second oldest continuously operating black business in Memphis.  During its early years the studio was located at 164 Beale Street.  It later moved to Linden Avenue and finally to McLemore Avenue where it ceased operation after a destructive fire in 1979.  Throughout most of the 20th century, the Hooks brothers documented the history and lives of black Memphis.  They photographed Booker T. Washington, W. C. Handy, Robert R. Church, the beginning of the Memphis NAACP, graduating classes from Howe Institute, LeMoyne College and other activities of black society.

       Beale Street c. 1910

Young Lady

Bluesman Robert Johnson

Vintage

Adams Parade

       1946

Baby       

Don Newman was born in Memphis in 1919 and graduated from Tech High School in 1937.  After graduation he took a job with George Haley, a well-known Memphis commercial photographer and began a career that lasted a lifetime.  Eventually he went to work for himself as a commercial photographer.  But his interests went beyond mere advertising.  He became consumed with Downtown street scenes and the history of Memphis' monuments of the past.  He deeply regretted so much demolition of the city's past.  Because of Newman's great love of the city, we now have a record of what was once Memphis.  Today, Memphis Heritage has the rights to the Newman Collection.  Prints of his work can be ordered from their website. (Click here to go to Memphis Heritage:  Newman's Memphis)

1937 Tech Graduate

      Downtown Memphis

Memphis Heritage Calendar

Newman's Obit

Dodge Dealer

Scimitar Building

Madison - East

Harlem House

Clifford Poland, Sr.

Clifford Poland, Sr. documented the growth of Memphis and recorded the city's economic and social life through his photographs.  He had settled in Memphis after a tour with the Navy, and opened the first commercial studio in the area.  He also owned the first movie camera in the city and his first commercial movie was of the opening of Clarence Saunder's original Piggly Wiggly store.   Poland became know as the only photographer between St. Louis and New Orleans to take color and sound movies during his time.  His son, Clifford Poland, Jr. became a prominent Hollywood cinematographer.

      Poland Letter 1920

Charles A. French 1915

Brooks Art Gallery

Cotton Carnival 1930

Grand Casino 1930

Tri State Midway 1917

Tri State Midway 1917

William Speer become world famous as "The man who shot Elvis".   Speer had grown up as a fan of the black and white movie glamour shots which were displayed in the display cases of the theatre lobbies and had dreamed of working in Hollywood.  Little did he know that Hollywood would come to him.  Elvis originally came to Speer in 1954 for promotion photos which had been arranged by his manager.  That series of 12 photos turned out to be the most memorable ever shot of "the King" and are now in the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum.   It's also a little known "secret" that Hollywood stars slipped quietly into Memphis to have Speer photograph them.  William Speer died in 2006.

Sydney Blackmer

Born in Memphis (1939), William Eggleston emerged in the early 1960s as a pioneer of modern color photography and he is widely credited with securing recognition for color photography as a legitimate artistic medium to display in art galleries.    There's never been any doubt that he is a "genius in color".  Today, he still lives in Memphis and is universally considered one of America's national treasures as well as one of the most important photographers in the world.   Needless to say he is indeed one of Memphis' most prized native sons.

Ernest C. Withers was a Memphis Photojournalist and one of the foremost photographers of the Civil Rights era who documented all important developments in African American culture during the 1950's and 1960's.  He covered civil rights demonstrations, African American entertainment, criminal trials, and milestone events throughout the South, but with a major emphasis on the events of Memphis, his home town.  His photographic works have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Ebony, Jet,  Newsweek, and Life Magazines.  Withers is considered one of the greatest African American photographers of all time and he is represented in the new Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture and his work has been archived by the Library of Congress. *