MEMPHIS, TENN. Photographer Ernest Withers, who spent more than 60 years documenting history from the blues music of Beale Street to the civil rights movement, died Monday night. He was 85. Withers died at the Memphis Veterans Medical Center from complications of a stroke he suffered last month, said his son, Joshua ’Billy’ Withers of Los Angeles.

As a freelance photographer for black newspapers, Withers traveled with Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, and other figures in the civil rights movement, capturing on film the momentous events of the 1950s and 60s. Withers also photographed jazz and blues musicians who frequented Memphis’ famed Beale Street, such as Rufus Thomas, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley.

“Ernest Withers is internationally recognized as one of the most important American photographers of the 20th Century,” said Kaywin Feldman, director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. “Not only did Withers capture iconic images of the civil rights movement, but he also produced important photographs of the Negro Baseball League.

We are proud to have almost 200 of Withers’ photographs in our permanent collection.” Withers’ career began during World War II when he was asked to replace an Army photographer who was being promoted. His duties included photographing engineering projects such as bridges and airfields that black soldiers helped build. Withers then began shooting photos for his camp newspaper. His news clients would later range from the Tri-State Defender to Newsweek, TIME and The New York Times.