'What Colour are You?': FBI Counter-Intelligence and the Targeting of White Hate and Black Extremist Groups in the 1960s

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dc.contributor.advisorCameron, Gavin
dc.contributor.authorStieva, Katelyn
dc.contributor.committeememberHiebert, Maureen S.
dc.contributor.committeememberTerriff, Terry
dc.date2018-11
dc.date.accessioned2018-07-31T14:38:58Z
dc.date.available2018-07-31T14:38:58Z
dc.date.issued2018-07-26
dc.description.abstractFrom 1954 until 1972, the Federal Bureau of Investigations operated a sustained counter-intelligence program (COINTELPRO) against subversive organizations including Black Extremist groups like the Black Panther Party and White Hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. With a mandate to neutralize the activities and minimize the risk of violence posed by the targeted organizations, COINTELPRO was one of the largest and most invasive domestic counter-intelligence programs ever run in the United States. Considering the size and breath of targets identified by COINTELPRO, this study examines the extent to which the Bureau demonstrated differential behaviour when targeting Black Extremist groups versus White Hate groups and explores why such differential behaviour existed. Based upon an analysis of COINTELPRO documents, the results suggest that despite having the same mandate to neutralize threats posed by subversive organizations, the interpretation of neutralization was distinctly different for White Hate groups versus Black Extremism. In COINTELPRO-White Hate operations, the neutralization of threat was achieved through controlling and containing the activities of the target organization. In COINTELPRO-Black Extremism operations, however, neutralization was achieved through eliminating the target organization. This fundamental difference in how Bureau agents interpreted their mandate naturally created a difference in operational methods and outcomes that are also addressed in this study. Explaining the differential behaviour by the Bureau lies in understanding the relationship between the targeted organizations, the purpose of COINTELPRO as a program, and the political orientation of the Bureau during this time period. While Black Extremist organizations such as the Black Panther Party firmly fit within the established image of subversive organizations due to their political orientation, White Hate organizations like the Klan did not, and as a result, were never considered as substantial a threat within the Bureau. This ambivalence towards the political orientation of White Hate organizations yielded COINTELPRO operations that not only failed to fully neutralize the threat posed by these groups, but allowed alternate, and potentially more dangerous, White Hate organizations to flourish well beyond the cancellation of COINTELPRO in 1972.en_US
dc.identifier.citationStieva, K. (2018). What Colour are You?': FBI Counter-Intelligence and the Targeting of White Hate and Black Extremist Groups in the 1960s (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/32712en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/32712
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/107531
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyArts
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectFederal Bureau of Investigation
dc.subjectCounter-Intelligence
dc.subjectCOINTELPRO
dc.subjectKu Klux Klan
dc.subjectBlack Panther Party
dc.subjectNorth Carolina
dc.subject1960s
dc.subjectBlack Extremism
dc.subjectWhite Hate
dc.subject.classificationHistoryen_US
dc.subject.classificationHistory--Modernen_US
dc.subject.classificationHistory--Blacken_US
dc.subject.classificationHistory--United Statesen_US
dc.subject.classificationPolitical Scienceen_US
dc.subject.classificationEthnic and Racial Studiesen_US
dc.title'What Colour are You?': FBI Counter-Intelligence and the Targeting of White Hate and Black Extremist Groups in the 1960s
dc.typemaster thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineMilitary and Strategic Studies
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Strategic Studies (MSS)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
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