Mississippi Sovereignty Commission Pays Black Informants to Spy on Civil Rights Workers

The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission recruits and pays Black informants within civil rights organizations to report on activities, membership, and plans. Informants include members of local NAACP chapters, ministers, and community figures. Declassified records reveal that the Commission sometimes provided information about civil rights workers to white supremacist groups. The practice of Black informants reporting to a segregationist state apparatus creates an atmosphere of distrust that hampers organizing and sometimes leads directly to violence against civil rights workers.