Index/Topics/FBI Surveillance

FBI Surveillance

The FBI's surveillance on Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s under pretexts including suspected communist influence.

Fact-Checks

5 results
Jan 15, 2026
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Did Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife or family ever publicly address claims of extramarital relationships?

Coretta Scott King did publicly respond to rumors about Martin Luther King Jr.’s alleged infidelities, generally downplaying them and expressing faith in her marriage even when FBI surveillance materi...

Jan 21, 2026

What are some negative truths about Martin Luther king Jr?

remains an iconic figure for civil rights, but his legacy contains documented and contested negative elements: credible archival evidence of extramarital sexual activity and questionable behavior reve...

Jan 20, 2026

Did the FBI’s COINTELPRO operation manufacture or exaggerate sexual allegations against Martin Luther King Jr.?

The FBI’s COINTELPRO targeted Martin Luther King Jr. with an explicit mission to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” him and other civil‑rights leaders, and Bureau records...

Jan 20, 2026

What evidence do historians consider strongest and weakest in FBI files about Martin Luther King Jr.?

The FBI files on Martin Luther King Jr. provide historians with some of the most meticulously recorded primary material about King’s movements, communications and the Bureau’s own counterintelligence ...

Jan 14, 2026

How have historians assessed the credibility of allegations about King's private life?

Historians assess allegations about Martin Luther King Jr.’s private life through two competing prisms: the raw content of newly released FBI files and the provenance and motivation behind those files...