DN! Prominent Civil Rights-Era Photographer Was FBI Informant.flv

Prominent Civil Rights-Era Photographer Was FBI Informant

And newly disclosed records show that one of the most prominent photographers of the civil rights era, Ernest Withers, was also a paid informant for the FBI. According to the Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Withers worked closely with the FBI to monitor civil rights activists during the 1960s. Withers is said to have provided photographs, background information and scheduling details to two agents in FBI's Memphis spying office. Withers photographed Dr. Martin Luther King at several marches and was the only photographer to cover the entire trial of those accused in the murder of the black teenager Emmett Till. In January 2007, months before his death, Amy Goodman interviewed Ernest Withers at his studio in Memphis, Tennessee. He talked about one of his most famous pictures: a mass of striking sanitation workers holding signs reading "I am a man" at what would turn out to be the last march led by Dr. King. Ernest Withers: "The last march of his, of Martin King, they were lined up there at [inaudible] and Hernando outside of Cleveland Temple Church, and they were there with all those 'I'm a Man' signs. And I thought it was dramatic and historic in what it was, but I didn't know it was ending up to be as popular. But it was the last march of Martin King."

Withers's alleged involvement was revealed because the FBI forgot to redact his name in declassified records discussing his collaboration.

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• Photographer
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• FBI
• Informant

[tantexan]

bitch ass snitch indeed

[rosaleschristopher]

snitch

[WoodyLittle]

Difficult to work up a real sense of outrage at this man. More than anything else it's just...sad.

He lived with what he did his entire life. Too bad he's not still around to tell the real story.

[harveysuperboy]

@zjones1222 Thank you for the information.

[zjones1222]

@lietz13 You believe that the orchestrated assassination of MLK was necessary to control black crowds on permit with police protection. Although, peaceful protest and song was the control mechanism that made the movement popular but dogs, water and arrests happened as a result for speaking out against unfair treatment of human beings on a larger scale.

[zjones1222]

@harveysuperboy One of the photographers for Malcolm X's demise today is a college professor that works at a HBCU. He recounted that Ernest Withers and others like them were hounded not true informants and were targeted as a means to trace the where about of these so called great leaders. Assassinations in order JFK (1963), Malcom X(1965) and MLK (1967) it all kind of adds up to FBI coverup and informants.

[harveysuperboy]

As a Black man who has an understanding of history I'm not shocked,but angry. If this dude was alive I would gladly go to jail for killing him.Fuckers like this help keep our people in a fucked up place.

[akilmosq24]

Are you aware of Cointelpro, if not you need to read. Anybody that said they was a friend of any organization and hid the fact that they was working with the FBI, is a traitor. a snake. If you think black people don't feel the same way, ask them.

[akilmosq24]

What I am aware of is that the FBI infiltrated the Black groups not only to dismantle them but to murder, and kill innocent people even children, if the thought they where in any way a threat to national security. It's hard for me to believe that anyone would think that this man only took pictures.

[lietz13]

@akilmosq24 He told the FBI about what they were up to.

I don't know if you're aware, but wherever a march took place, there was a good chance for a riot to break out and for people to be killed.

By reassuring the Federal Government that the movement was peaceful and for his work in photography, he absolutely helped civil rights progress.