Perrusquia: Conspiracy theory about MLK’s Memphis march skirts essential facts
Legend has it the FBI sabotaged Martin Luther King Jr.'s last demonstration, a mass march down Beale Street that erupted in rioting and looting. A new book suggests civil rights photographer Ernest Withers of Memphis, an informant for the FBI, may have been compensated to disrupt King’s march, a theory that appears to lack credible substantiation. (Courtesy of Preservation and Special Collections Department, University Libraries, University of Memphis – Press Scimitar collection)
Marc Perrusquia
Marc Perrusquia is the director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis, where graduate students learn investigative and explanatory journalism skills working alongside professionals. He's won numerous state and national awards for government watchdog, social justice and political reporting. Follow the Institute on Facebook or Twitter @psr_memphis.
As the story goes, FBI agents hired provocateurs to smash store windows and start a riot designed to embarrass King. A recent account includes civil rights photographer Ernest Withers in the plot, but there's no credible proof for the theories.
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