Civil Rights Photographer Unmasked as Informer – NYTimes.com

—

by

Trent
in

Civil Rights Photographer Unmasked as Informer

Ernest C. Withers was paid to provide information on his subjects, The Commercial Appeal in Memphis reported.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/us/14photographer.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

On Sunday, The Commercial Appeal in Memphis published the results of a two-year investigation that showed Mr. Withers, who died in 2007 at age 85, had collaborated closely with two F.B.I. agents in the 1960s to keep tabs on the civil rights movement. It was an astonishing revelation about a former police officer nicknamed the Original Civil Rights Photographer, whose previous claim to fame had been the trust he engendered among high-ranking civil rights leaders, including Dr. King.