Box 1

Scope and Contents These FBI files involve direct investigations of James Forman and include a handwritten summary of the report marking instances and facts, file and page numbers. According to the summary, which is written in third person, the FBI released the redacted James Forman files in 1978, covering the years 1961 to 1976, “when the subject’s activities were no longer considered to be a threat to the internal security to the United States.” The files appear to have been independently organized into...

Abstract

James Forman was an important figure in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, serving as Executive Secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) between 1961-1966, and a life-long intellectual and activist. This collection includes copies of Forman's published works, FBI files Forman obtained through FOIA requests, and A/V materials documenting Forman's activism in the 1980s-1990s.

Scope and Contents In the summer of 1961, when Forman joined SNCC, the FBI opened an investigation of Forman which continued through the 1970s. Forman was able to obtain copies of FBI files kept on him and other subjects through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. There are files on Forman, SNCC, the “Black Manifesto,” and Black Nationalism. Forman also collected files on 20th century organized crime leaders and right wing Zionist organizations and figures for his own research. All files were redacted...