The FBI and the Civil Rights Movement 10 questions based on an excerpt from James Loewen’s “Lies My Teacher Told Me”

J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI J. Edgar Hoover was the director of the Bureau of Investigation from This Bureau then changed its name to the FBI, of which Hoover (not Herbie!) was director from That is forty-eight years and 8 presidencies. The FBI is the nation’s prime Federal law enforcement organization. The 14 th amendment, passed in 1868, promised equal protection under the law and citizenship rights for all. The 15 th amendment, passed in 1870, promised equal access to voting. Neither of these amendments or other laws passed during Reconstruction were ever upheld under the law. Lynching was rampant, and African Americans were not allowed to testify in court. Local sheriffs and police chiefs were no help, either, often times ensuring that the discrimination was protected. It was the FBI’s job to ensure these laws were enforced, to offer protection to African American’s trying to vote, or to live as full citizens with equal rights to others. Because of this, civil right leaders in the 1960s looked to the FBI for protection. Read pages of James Loewen’s “Lies My Teacher Told Me” to find out what happened, and answer the following questions.

Based on page 236: 1. During Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, there were more anti- black riots than any other time in history. What did Wilson have the bureau do about it? 2.In the 1960s, how many black officers were there in the FBI?

Page 237

Based on page 237: 3. Explain the FBIs involvement with Mississippi, where many of the federal laws were being violated. 4. In 1954, Anne and Carl Braden bought a house in an all-white neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky, on behalf of a black couple, Andrew and Charlotte Wade. What resulted from this act of friendship: mob violence against the Wades, the bombing of the house, and imprisonment for her husband on charges of sedition. Sounds like a case for the FBI to get involved and help out the Bradens and the Wades right? What was Hoover’s reaction?

Based on page 237, continued: 5.Describe Hoover’s campaign to destroy Martin Luther King Jr. 5. In 1964, a high FBI administrator sent a tape recording of King and an anonymous note suggesting King kill himself, to the office of King’s organization. What was the FBI hoping would happen as a result of the tape and the letter?

Although the tapes and manuscripts that the FBI collected on King are in the National Archives, they have been sealed from public access until However, the “Suicide Letter” was published in 2014 by the New York Times. Read it on the next slide.

7. Write a letter back to J. Edgar Hoover, explaining what you think of him. Dear J,

Based on page 238: 8.What was the “Orangeburg Massacre” and how did the FBI respond? 8. What did the FBI do to break up the Black Panthers?

10. Loewen states, “Not only do textbooks fail to blame the federal government for its opposition to the civil rights movement, many actually credit the government, almost single- handedly, for the advances made during the period.” Write a paragraph about the federal governments’ role in civil rights that you would like to have added to the U.S. History textbook you were issued at the beginning of this course.