Higgins has worked as a New York Times photographer since 1975 and has exhibited in museums throughout the world. His one-man exhibitions have appeared at the International Center of Photography, The Museum of Photographic Arts, The Smithsonian Institution, The Museum of African Art, Musée Dapper Paris, The Schomburg Center, The New-York Historical Society and the Schatten Gallery at Emory University.Higgins is the author of the photo collections Black Woman, Drums of Life, Some Time Ago: A Historical portrait of Black America (1850–1950), Feeling the Spirit: Searching the World for the People of Africa, Elder Grace: The Nobility of Aging, and his memoir Echo of the Spirit: A Photographer's Journey. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and has been included in numerous book collections and appeared in publications such as Newsweek, Fortune, Look, Essence and Life.