Celtics great Bill Russell investigated by FBI in 1960s for civil rights activism

The parallels with how the Bureau collects information on Black activists today is notable.

The history of the US civil rights movement cannot be told without the inclusion of Hall of Fame Boston Celtics big man Bill Russell, and it also can’t be told without bringing up the FBI. The Bureau was infamous for monitoring the activities of activists and organizers in that critical stretch of US history, a practice that has continued with the monitoring of Black Lives Matter and other organizations.

Now, the Boston Herald’s Joe Dwinell has revealed that Bill Russell was himself monitored by the FBI after a successful Freedom of Information Act request, a fact that should not surprise much given the history pointed to above.

But one jarring in the present nonetheless given Russell’s stature in the NBA community and as a fighter for social justice over the course of his life.