Identifier

FBI_00156

Title

Racial Disturbances in Royal Oak

Creator

Hoover, J. Edgar (FBI)

Description

Brief memo from FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, to U.S. Attorney General, Francis Biddle, seeking additional information on racial disturbances in Royal Oak. A confidential informant had disclosed that white patrons were disturbing Black patrons at a local tavern, and that the District Attorney General was going to be contacted, with federal assistance being sought at a later date, if things were not resolved. It is improtant to note that the use of informants in this instance preceeded the formalization of COINTELPRO, which didn't occur until 1956.

Source

100-HQ-135-Serial303, 20 May 1948, Federal Bureau of Investigation Records, "Foreign Inspired Agitation Among American Negroes", Detroit FBI Files - Black Freedom.

Theme

Criminalization and Resistance, Community and Resistance

Type

Government Records

Level 1 Tag

Surveillance

Government Correspondence

"Race

Racism

Racialization"

COINTELPRO

Resistance

Detroit

Level 2 Tag

Racial Unrest

Profiling

Informants

Infiltration

Abuse by Government

Race & Ethnic Identity

COINTELPRO - Foreign Inspired Agitation Among American Negroes

Racial Inequality

Level 3 Tag

Federal Bureau of Investigation

J. Edgar Hoover

Francis Biddle

U.S. Attorney General

Date

1948-05-20

Location

Washington D.C. & Detroit, MI

Rights

Public Domain acquired through Freedom of Information Act