Through Martin Luther King Jr.’s struggle to liberate people of color from discrimination and oppression, he also dealt with being surveilled by the FBI. In fact, FBI head of domestic intelligence, William C. Sullivan, is on record of saying of King: “We must mark him now as the most dangerous Negro in the future of this nation.”
According to ABC News, Sullivan shared an internal alarm on King just two days after he gave the historical ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. King was without privacy for some time, as it was found that until his death, the FBI had been wiretapping his phone, and even bugging his hotel rooms.In 2020, a documentary directed by Sam Pollard called MLK/FBI was released that follows Martin Luther King Jr. that explores the investigation and harassment of Martin Luther King Jr. by the FBI through newly declassified documents. The film also explores the FBI's malicious attack to discredit him by collecting recordings and images of his private sex life with women other than his wife.
Thanks to the National Archives, there are now plans set for the release of unheard FBI audio regarding their plans to allegedly destroy Martin Luther King Jr. According to the agency itself, this audio will be released in January 2027.
