Index of individuals that were being surveilled by the FBI who were leader in the LRBW. Also includes the specific identifiers that the FBI used for these individuals in their communications.

Indices regarding the "Mississippi Summer Project, Racial Situation, State of Mississippi" files.

Indices regarding the "Mississippi Summer Project, Racial Situation, State of Mississippi" files.

Memo sent to J. Edgar Hoover summarizing the surveys prepared by 39 FBI Field Offices regarding informant coverage with respect to racial conditions. Summaries indicate that Field Offices have done an inadequate job of extending coverage on racial conditions and there is significant cooperation with local law enforcement with agencies and Offices of Military and Naval Intelligences to gather information on racial matters. The last page of this document discusses work being done in Detroit, the Field Offices eight Black informants, and special agents providing information. It is important to note that this type of surveillance preceded the formalization of COINTELPRO. It is also contradictory to other memos stating that significant surveillance wasn’t taking place of Black and brown communities and sources of racial tensions/issues.

Document detailing a response from the Combined Civil Rights Committee of Gary after the Baptist Street Church Bombing in Birmingham, Ala.

Document detailing the use of informants within Detroit Communist groups to become familiar with their leaders for possible destabilization.

This document features details from an informant’s furnished letter and newsletter outlining the Mississippi Project, which recruited students, teachers, and legal advisors to support disenfranchised Black Americans in the South through legal counsel, voter registration, and school integration. The report concludes with claims that the National Lawyers Guild is a communist front.

Internal memo discussing the internal situation of KKK and their revival and efforts to disenfranchise/oppress Black Americans.

Message from the Director of the FBI detailing the activities of Benjamin J. Davis and the issues of the newspaper "The Worker" detailing racial matters in Detroit.

Message from the Director of the FBI detailing the the importance of surveilling "racial matters", particularly Black communist members, of the Communist Party and the influence of Benjamin J. Davis and Gus Hall.

Select pages from an internal memo highlighting Japanese influence in the Black community during WWII. The FBI was concerned that the Japanese were fostering relationships and sympathizing with non-whites in the U.S., which was problematic for the war effort. The pages in this document focus largely on Detroit and Michigan specifically. Surveillance includes details on meetings, publications, and individuals of interest. It is important to note, although this is listed alongside COINTELPRO files, this surveillance took place prior to formal initiation of COINTELPRO in 1956. The type of surveillance here is a precursor to the further expansion of mass surveillance activities throughout COINTELPRO.

Finding aid for documents and files related to the League of Revolutionary Black Workers housed in the U.S. National Archives & Records Administration

An FBI source sent a letter to the Office of the President to alert him, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the FBI, of a rumored recruitment of 50,000 Black workers from the South to General Motors and Ford as employees. The letter writer feared that this recruitment could start a race war given that there were many whites who were already hostile to Black folk.

Surveillance report on the March on Washington and the key figures within Detroit groups that are involved.

This document gathers newspaper articles reporting on Martin Luther King Jr.’s December 18, 1963 speech at Western Michigan University, which were forwarded to the Atlanta FBI Field Office as part of their ongoing investigation into MLK.