Why We Should Teach About the FBI's War
on the Civil Rights Movement

Referring to the FBI, President Donald Trump tweeted on July 21, "Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer's office (early in the morning) ---- almost unheard of."

There is actually a long history of FBI raids and secret surveillance ---- pa rticularly of progressive groups. However, it is true that they are "almost unheard of" ---- in textbooks. It i s time to make sure that students learn about surveillance efforts such as COINTELPRO. Why? So that students are not duped by Trump's 

mis-information campaign, and more importantly, so that students can be alert to threats to progressive groups today. High school teacher Ursula Wolfe-Rocca has her students examine FBI documents to learn the scope of the FBI's campaign to spy on, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt all corners of the Black Freedom Movement.

Please read and share Ursula's article and lesson on teaching about COINTELPRO. Consider making a donation to the Zinn Education Project so that we can bring this essential history to many more classrooms in the new school year.

Why We Should Teach About the FBI's War
on the Civil Rights Movement

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

On March 8, 1971 ---- while Muhammad Ali was fighting Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden, and as millions sat glued to their TVs watching the bout unfold ---- a group of peace activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, and stole every document they could find.

Delivered to the press, these documents revealed an FBI conspiracy ---- known as COINTELPRO ---- to disrupt and destroy a wide range of protest groups, including the Black Freedom Movement. The break-in, and the government treachery it revealed, is a chapter of our not-so-distant past that all high school students ---- and all the rest of us ---- should learn, yet one that history textbooks continue to ignore.

COINTELPRO: Teaching the FBI's War on the Black Freedom Movement Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca Through examining FBI documents, students learn the scope of the FBI's COINTELPRO campaign to spy on, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt all corners of the Black Freedom Movement.