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A Spy in Canaan: How the FBI Used a Famous Photographer to Infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement

Amazon.com Price:  $21.39 (as of 20/04/2019 08:39 PST- Details)

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Description

Only Ernest Withers, a key figure within the civil rights movement, may have delivered such iconic photographs—and the type of information the FBI wanted . . . 

Renowned photographer Ernest Withers captured one of the crucial most stunning moments of the civil rights era—from the age-defining snapshot of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., riding one of the crucial first integrated buses in Montegomery, to the haunting photo of Emmett Till’s great-uncle pointing an accusing finger at his nephew’s killers. He used to be trusted and beloved by King’s inner circle, and had a front row seat to history . . . but few people know that Withers used to be also an informant for the FBI.

Memphis journalist Marc Perrusquia broke the tale of Withers’s secret life after a long investigation culminating in a landmark lawsuit against the federal government to release hundreds of once-classified FBI documents. Those files confirmed that, from 1958 to 1976, Withers helped the Bureau monitor pillars of the movement including Dr. Martin Luther King and others, in addition to dozens of civil rights foot soldiers.

Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of King’s assasination, A Spy in Canaan explores the life, complex motivations, and legacy of this fascinating figure Ernest Withers, in addition to the dark shadow that era’s culture of surveillance has cast on our own time. 

Includes an 8-page, black-and-white photo insert.

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