Ernest Withers: Key Civil Rights Figure an FBI Informant

Filed under: News, Politics, Race and Civil Rights

If you don't know the name Ernest Withers (pictured above), I can guarantee that you know of his work. Remember the famous and horrible picture of Emmett Till (pictured below)? Withers took that one. Think about nearly every well-known picture of Dr. Martin Luther King you can think of. Well, Withers probably took that one too. Ernest Withers had access to Civil Rights leaders like no other.

He was also found to have been an informant for the FBI.

The Commercial Appeal in Memphis conducted a two-year investigation in to the life of Withers, who died in 2007. The investigation found that Withers allegedly worked with two FBI agents to keep an eye on the Civil Rights Movement. Withers was known to have been very close to Dr. King and to have had his trust.

"It is an amazing betrayal," said Athan Theoharis, a historian, told the New York Times. "It really speaks to the degree that the FBI was able to engage individuals within the civil rights movement. This man was so well-trusted."

Reports say that from 1968 to 1970, Withers provided photos and other detailed information to the FBI about the schedules and whereabouts of Civil Rights figures.

Withers' identity was apparently released by accident.

In most of the FBI reports, references to Withers were blocked out, replaced by his informant number, ME 338-R, but on several occasions, agents forgot to remove his name.

Withers had eight children before he died, and some speculate that this might have been the reason he chose to accept money from the FBI. If that's the case, this would be a disturbing reminder of how our financial circumstances can ultimately impact our ability to be free. It might be presumptuous to think that Withers wanted to sell his friends out to the FBI, so I can only imagine that his financial situation played a role in his decision to undermine one of the most significant movements in African-American history.

The fact that Ernest Withers appears to have been an FBI informant not only rewrites quite a few history books, it also opens the door to another disturbing question: Who killed Dr. King and how did they know where he'd be at the time of his murder?

The fact that Withers "just happened" to be at the Lorraine Motel at the time of King's death as well as the fact that he'd gained so much of Dr. King's trust, makes us only contemplate the unthinkable.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

 

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