The notion that civil rights activists wanted to align with communists was greatly overblown to undermine their legal cases and social image. This was a time of hysteria about communism. Relatedly, many whites and government spokespeople worried that the truth about American racism would undermine their attempts to "spread democracy." It did. Such fears occasionally worked in the favor of pro democratic civil rights demonstrators (who eschewed communism to seem legitimate).

Remember: civil rights activists were largely about reform. Those reaching out to Global communist allies were on the radical fringe in the '50s.

Some figures, however, such as WEB Du Bois did drastically change their conception of communism over time. After all, he and others were so hounded by government officials and contemporaries that they were literally or unofficially exiled. Communism would have seemed more and more viable to those rightly disillusioned with "democracy."

I recommend reading The Cold War and the Color Line https://g.co/kgs/eztmpE

Or Radio Free Dixie (Timothy Tyson) And anything by Kevin Gaines