NPR: More Details: FBI's File on Coretta Scott King

More Details: FBI's File on Coretta Scott King

Coretta Scott King and her husband, Martin Luther King, photographed in December 1964.

AFP/Getty Images

News Headlines: Aug. 31, 2007

We've been following yesterday's KHOU-TV report, detailing the federal government's spying on Coretta Scott King after her husband's assassination in 1968.

The Associated Press has picked up the story and includes reaction from prominent civil rights leaders with ties to the King family.

From the Rev. Joseph Lowery, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference:

"The FBI kept a microphone everywhere they could where the SCLC was concerned," said Lowery, who said the agency had a member of the SCLC's staff on its payroll. "Since we had nothing to hide, it was no great problem for us. But we don't put it past the FBI; (then-FBI Director) J. Edgar Hoover hated Martin Luther King and everything that the SCLC stood for."

From Ambassador Andrew Young, Dr. King's protege:

"I didn't know it [surveillance] and I don't think she knew it ... If ever there was a woman that had the makings of a saint, it was Coretta. I don't know what they were looking for, I don't know what they were expecting to find. I don't know why they wasted the government's money."

On today's show, NPR's Tony Cox (filling in for Farai) spoke with KHOU reporter Mark Greenblatt and executive producer David Rezik -- who have been researching this story for the last year. And he got response Martin Luther King, Jr.'s nephew, Isaac Newton Farris. Farris runs the King Center in Atlanta, Ga.

Watch the KHOU report. [Windows Media Player required.]

More Headlines:
The Associated Press: NAACP Challenges Louisiana Voter Purge

San Jose Mercury News: Your Black Muslim Bakery Leader Pleads Not Guilty to Felonies

The Associated Press: Henin, Williams Sisters Face Unfamiliar Opponents at U.S. Open

Los Angeles Times: In Nubia, Fears of Another Darfur

The Associated Press: Officer Suspended Over 'Ghetto Handbook'

RTE News: West African State to Shoot Drug Planes

Geoffrey Bennett

12:19 PM ET | 08-31-2007 | permalink

Send a Comment

Comments are reviewed and edited by NPR prior to display. All comments will be read, but not all will be posted.

NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.

E-mail this Page

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No
May we contact you with information about NPR programming and services? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No

(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)

About 'News & Views'

News & Views is the companion blog of NPR's news magazine show, News & Notes. It extends News & Notes' ongoing conversation about the diversity of the African-American experience. For more information, read our Frequently Asked Questions guide and our Discussion Rules.