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Big Ella, Club Paradise, Memphis, Tennessee
- Woman
- African-American Artist
- Music
- Singing
- Blues
- Big Ella
- White
- Black
"Women and the Civil Rights Movement," Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 14 - October 30, 2016.
"Come Together, Right Now: The Art of Gathering," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 11, 2020 - January 3, 2021.
American, 1922−2007
Big Ella, Club Paradise, Memphis, Tennessee, 1960s
Gelatin silver print (photograph), printed ca. 2000
African American photojournalist Ernest Withers often brought his camera to events at Club Paradise in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. This club was one of the largest in the South where blacks were allowed to perform, including blues singer Ervaella “Big Ella” Tate (here) and Tina Turner (right). By day the Paradise Club hosted community events, including meetings attended by Civil Rights Movement organizers like Coretta Scott King and Fannie Lou Hamer (pictured to the left).
Gift of Ernest C. Withers and Panopticon Gallery 2000.1.6