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Wow, what absolutely crazy documents! I’ve always been fascinated by redacted documents. It’s hard to believe so much of the Jean Seberg document is unredacted, so much that we can see plain text threats aimed at a notable actress! For the MLK letter, I’d be really interested to know what is in the redacted sections of that letter.
Nic that’s a good point I wonder what’s redacted. That would be another good question for the activity.
Justin, these are incredibly interesting and shocking documents! It is so rare to actually find evidence to corroborate “FBI conspiracies.” From the language of these letters, it is so plain and clear that the FBI actively and threateningly opposed Civil Rights leaders. Where did you find out about these documents? I have never seen them!
A great history professor from my freshman year of college introduced the concept to our class.
Well you did some good digging there. Scary to think of the power Hoover had. And I wonder how much of his actions were driven by his personal “secret.”
These are especially timely with social media exploding with misinformation. If the FBI could do it then, imagine what some “bad players” could do today.
I’m sure students would enjoy exploring these docs and the questions raised by your activity. Well done.
I really liked the documents here and I think you pose some great questions for students to think about. I think this activity brings up a good question about how narratives can be controlled based on what the people in charge believe. You make an excellent point in your second question by pointing out that the government’s opinion has completely changed now from when MLK was alive. I think this is really valuable to the history classroom as dominant narratives should be challenged and investigated.
Don’t see a source for featured image. Is the man on the right – Dick Gregory, the comedian?