The University of Memphis is doing its part to commemorate April 4, 1968, the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, this Sunday.
There will be a showing of the movie “At The River I Stand” at 2:30 p.m. in the Rose Theatre, followed by a panel discussion with four Memphians who were personally involved either with Dr. King or the sanitation strike.
U of M professors David Appleby, Allison Graham and Steven J. Ross produced “At The River I Stand.” At the time of its release, the film was nominated for an Emmy, received the ‘Best Historical Film of the Year’ award from the Organization of American Historians, an NAACP Image Award, and aired nationally on PBS.
Slated to speak are: John Beifuss, reporter for the Commercial Appeal; Dr. Ernest Withers, photographer; Jerry Hearn, former reporter for WDIA; and Taylor Rogers, participant in the 1968 sanitation workers strike led by Dr. King.
Ernest Withers was chosen because his camera captured Dr. King on many occasions. Withers has taken over 5 million pictures since his career began during World War II. The subject of his pictures was usually the African-American community, both before and after segregation.
During the civil rights struggle in the ‘50s and ‘60s, Withers photographed meetings, marches, sit-ins and police crackdowns across the South. He was published in several magazines, such as Time, Life and Newsweek, without credit.
Withers said Sunday he plans to “express with honesty” all that he encountered during the movement. During the most memorable moment he ever spent with Dr. King, Withers decided not to take his picture. He found himself in the funeral home where Dr. King was before he was embalmed.
“I decided not to take his picture,” Withers said. “I didn’t think it was fair. It just wasn’t the right image to make of him for the public.”
Hearn, who is now the senior communication specialist for FedEx, also had the privilege of meeting King and witnessing many of the tumultuous events that foreshadowed King’s death. As a reporter for the famed WDIA radio station, his press pass allowed him access to many of the civil rights activities that now appear in history books. He said the event he remembers best was when he had the chance to interview Dr. King personally, right after the march from Clayborne Temple to City Hall that erupted into a riot.
“We sat down and talked about the march, open housing laws, the sanitation campaign in Memphis, and what he saw as his role here,” Hearn said. “I can claim that I talked to the only man who has a national holiday to observe his birth. I did talk to him.”
John Beifuss was chosen because his mother, Joan Turner Beifuss, wrote the book “At The River I Stand.”
The event is sponsored by the Friends of the University of Memphis Libraries.
