FBI Surveils and Infiltrates NAACP Throughout 1950s

Throughout the 1950s, the FBI maintains extensive surveillance of the NAACP, building files on its leaders and infiltrating local chapters with informants. Hoover views civil rights organizations as Communist-influenced. FBI reports on NAACP activities are shared with Southern police departments and segregationist politicians. The surveillance is used to red-bait civil rights leaders, undermining their credibility and subjecting them to political pressure. Thurgood Marshall, Roy Wilkins, and other NAACP leaders are subjects of ongoing FBI file-keeping.