The Missouri State Sovereignty Commission (MSSC)
A common misconception about spies and this time is that every "spy" was a secret agent that worked in a top secret sector of the government, this however is not always true. The Missouri State Sovereignty Commission was a domestic spy agency and propaganda machine formed in the late 1950's in an effort to stop civil rights activists throughout the state. This agency was formed by the state of Mississippi and included your everyday people, people in places of high political power, and even African-Americans. This agency was said to have their hand in every civil rights protest and movement across the state of Mississippi. The MSSC would hire black Mississippians to infiltrate the civil rights meetings and spy for them. By doing this they were able to prepare and control the situations in places where civil rights movements were going to occur. The main goal of this agency was to maintain the segregation and natural racism that was present in the state of Mississippi, because they felt that was the natural way of things. In order to do this they spied on civil rights workers, acted as a clearing-house for information on civil rights activities and legislation from around the nation, funnelled money to pro-segregation causes, and distributed right-wing propaganda. In an effort to get the nation to back them the commission sent speakers to the North to advocate for segregation, as well as, brought journalists from New England down to Mississippi in an effort to disband the idea that Mississippi was a radically racist state. This idea came to no avail. The agency eventually closed its doors on June 30th, 1973 due to lack of support and growing equality throughout the country.