Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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The History Film Forum is a monthly online series from the Smithsonian that explores history on the screen and the evolution of film as public history. The Forum returned in 2021 with the new documentary MLK/FBI, which explores the US government’s history of targeting Black activists and the contested meaning behind some of our most cherished ideals. Based on newly discovered and declassified files, the film tells the tragic story of the FBI’s surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Emmy Award winning director Sam Pollard and former field secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Larry Rubin, in conversation with Christopher Wilson, the History Film Forum’s executive director and curator, examined the making of MLK/FBI and the pertinent issues it spotlights.

This program was made possible through the generous support of Dan Manatt and Democracy Films.

Watch other History Film Forum content here: youtube.com/watch?v=d2tVIwsCATg&list=PLZxSSLX6InCRmlPrctSgjGfZgsab4GzbS

For more information on History Film Forum visit: https://historyfilmforum.si.edu/