Stansbury Publishes Book of Exclusive Photos

Markhum L. “Mark” Stansbury Sr. captures history
in new book. Courtesy photo.

Not many photographers living today have in their possession a trove of never-before-seen historic photographs of history-makers covering more than 50 years. 

Markhum L. “Mark” Stansbury Sr. does. In his newly published book titled “Through the Lens of Mark Stansbury,” the photographer captured some of the most intriguing images of notables and some not-so-famous people from the 1960s to 2010.

Published by GrantHouse Publishers (December 2021), the 132-page hardcover book is no doubt a keepsake of black and white photographs of legendary civil rights leaders, entertainers, business magnates, sports figures, politicians, educators and more. 

Jimmy Carter, Julian Bond, Lena Horne, Lyndon B. Johnson, Marin Luther King Jr., Michael Jackson, Coach Larry Finch, Elvis Presley, Bill Clinton, Benjamin L. Hooks, The Beatles, Barack Obama, James Brown, Carla Thomas, Bair T. Hunt, and others.

Dr. Shirley Raines, president emerita of the University of Memphis (2001 to 2013), where Stansbury worked as her special assistant, joins the cadre of notables in the book as well.

“Whether on assignment or with a sense of where history was being made, Mark seized opportunities to use his camera to record history or to celebrate life…,” Raines wrote.

Stansbury noted in the book’s introduction that he used several different cameras during his career to photograph his subjects: the Yashica, a Japanese-manufactured camera; the Roliflex, a high-end camera originally manufactured by a German company; and the Nikon-F 35mm, Nikon’s first SLR camera.

No matter the brand, it was Stansbury’s critical eye and his instinct for capturing history in real time that set him apart from his contemporaries. In fact, one would need a critical eye to get the best shot.

Ekpe Obioto, a musician extraordinaire known for playing the djimbe drum and kalimba (thumb piano), is aware of Stansbury’s critical eye for taking the right shot and encouraged him to publish a book of his exclusive photos.

Stansbury made Obioto a promise during a visit to M.J. Edwards Funeral Home in 2020 to pay respect to the late Fred L. Davis, a civil rights leader, politician, founder of the first Black-owned insurance company, and their friend.

“I’m going to do it,” he told Obioto. 

Stansbury said he initially thought about publishing a book a decade ago but was super busy working at the University of Memphis, WDIA AM 1070 Radio Station, where he’s been a longtime radio personality, and LeMoyne-Owen College.

Much of what Stansbury was able to do with the camera derived from his connection to the late civil rights photojournalist Ernest C. Withers, who captured racial tumult in the South. 

Stansbury was inspired. He met Withers once as a young budding photographer but decided he’d write to the noted photojournalist to ask if he could take him under his tutelage as an apprentice.

He’d worked weekends at WDIA AM 1070, the first radio station in the country with all-black programming. In 1959, the station sent him to a journalism conference at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo.

“I always wanted to go to the University of Memphis (then-Memphis State University),” he said, “but that was never to be.”

Lincoln University was the alternative because of its journalism department. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1960 but could no longer attend the university.

“I knew I was going to drop out and I always wanted to be in college,” said Stansbury, deciding then to contact Withers, who agreed to mentor him.

“He taught me a lot. I learned how to process film in his darkroom,” he said. “When he would go out of town, I would run the office for him. When he was in town, sometimes I would go and shoot pictures for him.”

Over lunch one day, Stansbury said Withers thought of ways to get him back in school. He said Withers talked to Thaddeus Stokes, then-editor of the Tri-State Defender, as well as AC “Moohaw” Williams and Nat D. Williams, both popular radio personalities at WDIA.

“Each one of them wrote a letter on my behalf (to the president of Lane College, the Rev. Dr. Chester Arthur Kirkendoll),” said Stansbury, who would go on to matriculate at the historically black college in Jackson, TN.

While attending Lane College, Stansbury served as a photojournalist for the Tri-State Defender, Jet Magazine, and EbonyMagazine. He would go on work as a news anchor and has been a popular gospel radio personality at WDIA for more than 60 years.

“Through the Lens of Mark Stansbury” is the photographer’s contribution to photojournalism and the world at-large.

Perhaps there’s a little of Ernest C. Withers in Markhum L. “Mark” Stansbury Sr.

The book retails for $29.95. For more information or to order copies, contact the photographer at mstnsbry@gmail.comor by phone at 901-270-3780.