Identifier

FBI_00102

Title

Civil Rights Congress Report

Creator

Watson, Mortimer C. (FBI)

Description

This pre-COINTELPRO report documents FBI surveillance of the founding of the Civil Rights Congress in Detroit, held April 27–28, 1946. Informants provided information on pre-congress and event discussions addressing anti-labor injunctions, antisemitism, Jim Crow, poll taxes, and discrimination against Black Americans. The report details attendees, geographic representation, event sponsors, meeting minutes, resolutions, and amendments. These surveillance practices laid foundational groundwork for COINTELPRO’s later development.

Source

100-SE-18270-Serial1, 28 June 1946, Federal Bureau of Investigation Records, "Civil Rights Congress", Detroit FBI Files - Black Freedom.

Theme

Criminalization and Resistance, Community and Resistance

Type

Government Records

Level 1 Tag

Race

Racism

Racialization

Social Movements

Surveillance

Government Correspondence

Activism

COINTELPRO

Detroit

Level 2 Tag

Racial Unrest

Profiling

Informants

Infiltration

Abuse by Government

Race & Ethnic Identity

COINTELPRO - Civil Rights Congress

Communism

Socialism

Racial Inequality

Level 3 Tag

Civil Rights Congress

CPUSA

American Youth for Democracy

Carl Winter

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

George Marshall. National Federation for Constitutional Liberties

Date

1946-06-28

Location

Detroit, MI

Rights

Public Domain acquired through Freedom of Information Act