This website is a portal to the records collected under the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018. These records are only a portion of the total case files held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The National Archives, the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other federal agencies continue to work to identify cases and implement the Act.
The review and release of this material is a collaborative process involving multiple stages, including notifying the victim's next of kin, before posting material to the National Archives Catalog and to this site.
NARA and other agencies collect, digitize, and review records in response to requests from the Board. If you are interested in a specific incident that does not appear here, please contact the Board at info@coldcaserecords.gov.
Work on this project is ongoing, and additional records will become accessible through this site as digitization, review, and notification are complete.
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View in the National Archives Catalog(471800931)
View in the National Archives CatalogThe Act
The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act requires the assembly of digital copies of records related to civil rights cold cases. These records were created by or came into the possession of
- the Library of Congress,
- the National Archives,
- any executive agency,
- any independent agency,
- any other entity of the federal government, or
- any state or local government (or component) that provided support or assistance or performed work in connection with a federal inquiry into a civil rights cold case.
The Records
Department of Justice Case Files
Department of Justice (DOJ) case files are maintained by the Department’s various legal divisions and Office of Legal Counsel. Case files consist of records created or accumulated by these components in carrying out DOJ's responsibilities. The files are arranged by a subject-numeric system that is based on a standard set of numerical codes.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Case Files
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records consist of headquarters office investigative case files relating to violations of civil rights laws. The early records from 1921 to 1950 document FBI involvement in stopping the Ku Klux Klan, lynching, and institutional segregation and in ensuring voting and other constitutional rights for all American citizens. The records of the 1960s and early 1970s capture the dramatic changes in election laws and civil unrest that rocked the United States. The files typically contain correspondence, memorandums, photographs, newspaper clippings, reports, transcripts, and telegrams.
Other Related Records
Though the majority of the records were produced by the DOJ and FBI, other records have been located in War Department files, court records, and records created by other federal and independent agencies.
The Board
The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board is a nonpartisan panel of private citizens, appointed by the president, who are working to release the contents of federal investigations into unresolved cold cases from the Civil Rights Era. By making these records publicly available, the goal is to provide answers to relatives of victims, and also provide a more comprehensive picture of a dark chapter in our nation's history.