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MLK Jr. FBI Surveillance Records — 2025 Release

6,302 documents
Source agency: naraRelease year: 2025

FBI surveillance records on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. disclosed by the National Archives in 2025 pursuant to Executive Order 14176.

BlackVaultDocs indexes 6,302 documents from MLK Jr. FBI Surveillance Records — 2025 Release, 12.0% of a site-wide index of 52,684 documents. The files are FBI surveillance records on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. disclosed by the National Archives in 2025 pursuant to Executive Order 14176. The 6,302 count is an index of public NARA releases, not a finding about the surveillance or about Dr. King’s death. PDFs remain on the originating archive.

Key figures

  • BlackVaultDocs indexes 6,302 documents in MLK Jr. FBI Surveillance Records — 2025 Release.
  • That slice is 12.0% of the 52,684 documents in the site-wide index.
  • The files are FBI surveillance records on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., disclosed by NARA in 2025 pursuant to Executive Order 14176.
  • Agency tagging is nara; PDFs remain on the originating archive.
  • 6,302 is a catalog count, not a finding about the surveillance or about Dr. King’s death.

What the 6,302 indexed records are

The 6,302 figure is the BlackVaultDocs catalog count for topic slug mlk-release-2025. Collection name is MLK Jr. FBI Surveillance Records — 2025 Release. The packet description states the contents as FBI surveillance records on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., disclosed by the National Archives in 2025 pursuant to Executive Order 14176. Each indexed row is one file in that posting, not one surveillance act and not one day of coverage.

Six thousand three hundred two is 12.0% of the 52,684 documents in the site-wide index. That share compares catalog volume on BlackVaultDocs. It does not mean 12% of FBI records on Dr. King are public, and it does not mean 12% of this website is “about King.” Other collections in the 52,684 are unrelated JFK and RFK release slices with their own hubs.

Agency slug is nara. The disclosing institution in the packet is the National Archives. The records themselves are described as FBI surveillance files. This overlay does not add NARA IDs; none appear in the packet facts. Cite Executive Order 14176 as the disclosure authority named in the description, not as an interpretation of the files.

How this hub differs from the JFK release slices

The 6,302 rows are not a subset of any JFK Assassination Records posting. They are a separate topic with a separate statutory and executive-order path: FBI surveillance records on Dr. King, posted by NARA in 2025 under Executive Order 14176. Folding 6,302 into a JFK total would mix two collections the index keeps apart.

The site-wide denominator remains 52,684. JFK hubs and this MLK hub all sit under that total as distinct slugs. A researcher who needs King-related titles should start on this collection page, then use the document index if a title might have been ingested under another topic.

Full analysis: MLK Jr. FBI Surveillance Records — 2025 Release, 6,302 indexed files

Questions

How many MLK 2025 release documents does BlackVaultDocs index?
BlackVaultDocs indexes 6,302 documents under MLK Jr. FBI Surveillance Records — 2025 Release. That is 12.0% of the 52,684 documents in the site-wide index. The files are FBI surveillance records on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. disclosed by the National Archives in 2025 pursuant to Executive Order 14176.
What is Executive Order 14176 in this collection?
The packet description names Executive Order 14176 as the authority under which the National Archives disclosed these FBI surveillance records on Dr. King in 2025. This page cites that order as the disclosure label in the collection description. It does not interpret the order’s policy or the contents of the 6,302 files.
Are these 6,302 files part of the JFK Assassination Records Collection?
No. This hub is MLK Jr. FBI Surveillance Records — 2025 Release, a separate topic slug. The 6,302 count is not a subset of any JFK release’s docCount. Both collections appear in the 52,684-document site-wide index as distinct slices. Agency tagging on this packet is nara.
Does this page say the FBI files explain Dr. King’s assassination?
No. The 6,302-document index is a catalog of public NARA releases of FBI surveillance records. This page does not treat those files as a finding on Dr. King’s death. Researchers should open the collection hub and the originating archive for the scans, not read 6,302 as an argument.

Document counts from BlackVaultDocs index of public NARA / FOIA releases. PDFs remain on the originating archive.

Documents — page 1 of 64

100 shown

About this collection

Documents in the MLK Jr. FBI Surveillance Records — 2025 Release collection were released by the National Archives as part of ongoing declassification programs. Each file retains its original NARA Record Identification Number so it can be cross-referenced against academic and journalistic citations. Use the pagination below to walk the full 6,302-record list, or jump to any individual document for metadata and an in-browser PDF preview.

Frequently asked questions

What is the MLK 2025 release?

On July 21, 2025, the National Archives published the largest disclosure to date from the FBI surveillance file on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., covering airtels, memos, and field-office reports between 1962 and 1968. The release followed Executive Order 14176.

Are the 1977 sealed files released?

Executive Order 14176 directed early disclosure of records that had been sealed by a 1977 federal court order until 2027. The 2025 release represents the first large batch produced under that directive; additional records are expected.

Why were MLK files sealed for so long?

The FBI opened sustained surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1962 under J. Edgar Hoover. Thousands of resulting files were sealed by a 1977 federal court order until January 31, 2027. Executive Order 14176, signed in January 2025, directed the Department of Justice and the National Archives to accelerate public release of those records.

MLK Jr. FBI Surveillance Records — 2025 Release (2025) — 6,302 Declassified Documents | BlackVaultDocs