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. 

New book about leadership lessons includes Memphis State Eight

Dr. Shirley Raines, former U of M president and author of "An Uncommon
Journey," recognizes Bertha Mae Rogers Looney (right of Raines) and Luther
McClellan, two members of the Memphis State Eight, during a book talk Jan. 26
at Novel Memphis. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Nearly 60 years ago, eight black students – known as the Memphis State Eight – integrated the former Memphis State University. Before the name was changed to the University of Memphis in 1994, J. Millard (Jack) Smith, who was president from 1946 to 1960, reportedly said, “No blacks shall be admitted as long as I’m president.”

Dr. Shirley Raines, the affable president of the U of M from 2001 to 2013, had no problem acknowledging the history-making trailblazers who shattered the color barrier in 1959: Luther McClellan, Marvis Kneeland Jones, Ralph Prater, John Simpson, Bertha Mae Rogers Looney, Eleanor Gandy, Rose Blakney-Love and Sammie Burnett Johnson.

She pointed out two of them among the audience – McClellan and Looney – who came to hear her expatiate on her new book during a book talk and book signing Jan. 26 at Novel Memphis in the Laurelwood Shopping Center.

Raines is a capable storyteller, an effervescent spirit, which is quite evident in the stories she’s woven together comprising the book “An Uncommon Journey: Leadership Lessons from a Preschool Teacher Who Became a University President.”

“The stories are told from the experiences that you helped me live,” said Raines, speaker, consultant and author, interacting with the surrounding audience.

Dr. Shirley Raines autographs a copy of her book for Luther McClellan.

The Memphis State Eight gets a nod in the book. She first recognized the significance of their rightful place in history and hosted a former dinner and reception in their honor on campus in 2006. A historical marker was erected in front of the Administration Building in 2012.

Much of the credit goes to Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr., then special assistant to Raines and a longtime luminary over the airwaves at 1070 WDIA. He didn’t want the group to be forgotten and their determination to pursue a college education under dire conditions to be omitted from the annals of history.

“Dr. Raines was really a great president. She was sincere and open to change. And I appreciate her sincerity,” said McClellan, who left Memphis in 1962 during his sophomore year at the university.

“It’s amazing. It’s overwhelming,” added Looney, acknowledging the attention the group has been receiving and the “small contribution” that she said she’d made during that turbulent era in Memphis’ history.

She didn’t want to speak ill will of Smith during his day; however, she did speak favorably of Raines: “Dr. Raines is awesome. It reflects the leadership she gave to the university.”

 “They mean so much to me,” said Raines, recognizing her supporters and others in the audience (including Stansbury) who helped to shape her career as a leader and an academic. She rose from humble beginnings on a sharecropper’s farm in Bells, Tenn., to serving a stint in early childhood education, to serving at the helm of the university as its first female president.

Bells is a quaint city in Crocket County, Tenn., 72.9 miles from her home in Memphis “to be exact,” said Raines, who first eyed the big city of Memphis while growing up in Bells.

“Memphis was always special to me,” she told the audience. “I always wanted to live in Memphis…if the cotton crop was good.”

Born on the farm, Raines’ hardworking parents didn’t quite see the sunny side of an education after high school. Her mother had a 12th-grade education, she said, and her father made it to eighth-grade.

Why write the book?

“I wrote this book to tell my stories, and to inspire leaders, especially aspiring women leaders, who are wondering if they should take their next leadership step,” Raines explained in the book’s preface.

She’s had some invaluable experiences and life lessons on her journey from Bells to Memphis and developed the skillset that would catapult her as a formidable leader tasked with an awesome responsibility. This is the crux of the book.

The manuscript started out at 600 pages, she said, “but my editor said nobody would buy it. So I cut it to 300 pages.” Then she whittled the book down again to about “170-something” pages.

The book starts out with Raines’ formative years and builds from there until she lands the big enchilada at the U of M that naysayers, including her husband, didn’t think she would be selected.

“I was really nervous and really wanted the job,” said Raines, who interviewed with the search committee. “My husband told me that I couldn’t do it. So I had to do it.”

Laughter followed.

She did it her way and set the U of M on a trajectory going forward. She created The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, for example, and raised millions for the U of M Community Health Building.

“It was a great university before we got there, but we made it better,” Raines said unapologetically, owing her success to the life-lessons she learned over the years and her ability to lead the way.

“I always thought Dr. Raines was a great person. But on yesterday (Jan. 26), her stock went up with me,” said Stansbury, who shared the same sentiments about Raines with his radio listening audience.

Two members from ‘Memphis State 8’ die days apart

The Memphis State Eight: The late Rose Blakney-Love (l to r), the late Eleanor Gandy, Bertha
Rogers-Looney, Luther McClellan, John Simpson, Marvis Laverne Kneeland-Jones (seated).
Not pictured are Ralph Prater and the late Sammie Burnett-Johnson. (Photo by Mark Stansbury Sr.)

On Sept. 18,1959, eight black students walked onto a white college campus when racial tension was seething and forever became known as the “Memphis State Eight.”

Three of the members have died – two recently: Eleanor Gandy, 76, on Feb. 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Rose Blakney-Love, 75, on Feb. 12 in Memphis. Sammie Burnett Johnson, 71, was the first to die in 2011.

Five of the eight members remain: Luther McClellan, Marvis Kneeland Jones, Ralph Prater, John Simpson and Bertha Rogers Looney.

Their courage and determination to integrate the former Memphis State University during the burgeoning civil rights movement may have gone unnoticed if Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr. had not recognized their historical significance as trailblazers.

“We need to recognize the Memphis State Eight,” Stansbury urged Dr. Shirley Raines when she served as president of the current University of Memphis where he worked as her special assistant.

A photojournalist and trailblazer himself, Stansbury did not want the actions the group took in 1959 to become just a footnote in history or, worse, languish in obscurity. He knew their actions were just that important for posterity.

Raines was convinced the eight trailblazers deserved the recognition and their rightful place in the annals of history. She welcomed them back on campus in 2006 to a rousing reception and ceremony in their honor.

The group’s exploits would catch the attention of the media from time to time and eventually lead to the presentation of a historical marker in front of the Administration Building.

“My life was made richer by knowing them and admiring their courage,” Raines wrote in an email. “It was my distinct honor to have the historical marker honoring them placed on the University of Memphis campus.” 

Stansbury admires the eight trailblazers’ courage as well for defying the University’s racist admissions policy and their disdain for black students at that time. He once tried to enroll, but was denied. He would serve four different presidents nearly 20 years.

Dr. Miriam DeCosta-Willis, who tried to enroll in the university’s graduate program two years before the group’s decision to challenge the all-white faculty and student body, was not accepted either.

An activist, scholar, author and retired university professor, DeCosta-Willis said Gandy, Blakney-Love and Johnson are a passing generation of civil rights fighters. She was shaken by the recent deaths of Gandy and Blakney-Love.

“I mourn the loss of those two valiant individuals,” said DeCosta-Willis. “Now three of the eight are gone. It’s very troubling.”

She was saddened too “when I read that two very courageous fighters were down. I hope people will understand their courage and fortitude. What they went through was abominable.”

They were vilified, harassed and ostracized even after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that separate education was “inherently unequal.” Still, torment and loneliness would follow the eight students on campus each day they were subjected to the harsh reality of racism.

In spite of all the hoopla surrounding their contentious enrollment, the eight students kept their eyes on the prize: a college degree – whether it was conferred by the university or obtained at other colleges where some of the members opted to attend.

Equating the courage and moxie of the Memphis State 8 with Maxine Smith, Vasco Smith and Benjamin L. Hooks, DeCosta-Willis said Gandy, Blakney-Love and Johnson were treasures.

“I hope young people understand the sacrifice they made,” she said. “Sometimes we take for granted what they were able to accomplish.”

Gandy would go on to graduate from the University in 1963. In 1996, she earned a master’s degree in education from Mississippi State University. After graduation, she taught French in Memphis City Schools for more than 20 years.

Two years after integrating the University, Blakney-Love left to get married and went to work for the Tennessee Board of Parole.

“We extend our sympathies to the families of Eleanor Gandy and Rose Blakney-Love,” said U of M president David Rudd in a released statement. “As we continue to grow as a University, we hope the courage and strength shown by these two groundbreaking students will inspire future generations to stand up for what they believe in, and to fight for social justice.”