Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: COINTELPRO Collection
Dates: 1964-2011 (bulk 1978-1981)
Collection Number: FA-DOC 510
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 52 documents
Online items available
Repository:
Freedom Archives
San Francisco, California 94110
Abstract: This collection contains material on the FBI program COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program.) This program served to disrupt,
destroy and infiltrate many progressive organizations during the 1960s-1970s in the U.S.
Language of Material: English
Access
The collections at the Freedom Archives are open for access to the general public. The Archives requests attribution for all
non-commercial re-use of materials. Please contact the Archive for questions about any other use of materials.
Preferred Citation
COINTELPRO Collection. Freedom Archives
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection contains material on the FBI program COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program). This program served to disrupt,
destroy and infiltrate many progressive organizations during the 1960's-1970's in the U.S. This existence of the program was
discovered and made public during a break-in at a FBI offices in Media, Pennsylvania. The anti-war activists had intended
to destroy draft records but when they found evidence of a larger web of government repression, they kept the documents and
released it to the public. This sparked public outrage and resulted in Congress convening the Church Committee to investigate.
While no government officials were ever held criminally accountable for the program and the subsequent frame-ups, assassinations
and arrests, a number of civil suits were filed. The vast majority of our materials are drawn from two organizations, The
Committee for the Suit Against Government Misconduct and The National Taskforce for COINTELPRO Litigation and Research. Both
of these organizations organized around those imprisoned by COINTELPRO and distributed information about the program and its
lasting effects on movements for national liberation.
The National Taskforce for COINTELPRO Litigation and Research led the struggle to expose COINTELPRO attacks on the Black Liberation
struggle. By educating and organizing, and by coordinating law suits filed by Assata Shakur, the Republic of New Afrika 11
and others, the Task Force has worked to expose the depths of government attacks and to free some of its major targets. The
Committee for the Suit Against Government Misconduct worked under the leadership of National Task Force for COINTELPRO Litigation
and Research as part of the growing movement against government counterintelligence. Members of the Committee are plaintiffs
in Clark v. USA, a major civil law suit against the FBI, Justice Department, Richard Nixon, John Mitchell and others. The
plaintiffs have been named as targets of illegal activities for which ex-FBI officials have been convicted on criminal charges.