Was Ernest C. Withers "Civil Rights Photographer" an FBI Informant Sent to Watch Civil Rights & Anti-War Movements in Memphis?

Was black photographer Ernest Withers working with the FBI to keep an eye on the civil rights movement during the early years? I came across a fascinating article in the Commercial Appeal newspaper about Mr. Withers' activities during the darkest days in American history. Known as the "civil rights photographer," Earnest Withers was allegedly also known to the FBI as informant# ME 338-R.

As a foot soldier in J. Edgar Hoover's domestic intelligence program, Withers helped the FBI gain a front-row seat to the civil rights and anti-war movements in Memphis.

Much of his undercover work helped the FBI break up the Invaders, a Black Panther-styled militant group that became popular in disaffected black Memphis in the late 1960s and was feared by city leaders.

Withers shadowed King the day before his murder snapping photos and telling agents about a meeting the civil rights leader had with suspected black militants. He later divulged details gleaned at King's funeral in Atlanta, reporting that two Southern Christian Leadership Conference staffers blamed for an earlier Beale Street riot planned to return to Memphis "to resume ... support of sanitation strike'' -- to stir up more trouble, as the FBI saw it.

As a so-called racial informant -- one who monitored race-related politics and "hate" organizations -- Withers fed agents a steady flow of information. Source

This is a fascinating investigative report and while I don't think it will change what Ernest Withers meant to the black community, it does raise questions about other blacks who may have been informants for the FBI during the civil rights struggle. Nobody likes a snitch and to think that blacks were being lynched, shot and treated like sh*t in the struggle for racial equality and the best Ernest Withers could do was be a lackey of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover.

UPDATE#1: The revelations concerning Ernest Withers' work as an FBI informant won't affect plans to use some of his photographs in the proposed redesign of the National Civil Rights Museum, according to the Commercial Appeal.

Photo credit: Ernest C. Withers, © ERNEST C. WITHERS TRUST, COURTESY DECANEAS ARCHIVE, BOSTON, MASS.