The FBI's War on Black America

Deb Ellis
1990-01-01


8
53 min

Through a secret program called the Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), there was a concerted effort to subvert the will of the people to avoid the rise "of a Black Messiah" that would mobilize the African-American community into a meaningful political force. This documentary establishes historical perspective on the measures initiated by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI which aimed to discredit black political figures and forces of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Combining declassified documents, interviews, rare footage and exhaustive research, it investigates the government's role in the assassinations of Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, and Martin Luther King Jr. Were the murders the result of this concerted effort to avoid "a Black Messiah"?

Cast

Name Character Team
H. Rap Brown Self Unowned
Kwame Ture Self Unowned
Eldridge Cleaver Self (archive footage) Unowned
Kathleen Cleaver Self Unowned
Fred Hampton Self (archive footage) Unowned
Malcolm X Self (archive footage) Unowned
Huey P. Newton Self (archive footage) Unowned
Geronimo Pratt Self Unowned
Bobby Rush Self Unowned