Search Help

How does this work?
There are many ways to search the collections of the Freedom Archives. Below is a brief guide that will help you conduct effective searches. Note, anytime you search for anything in the Freedom Archives, the first results that appear will be our digitized items. Information for items that have yet to be scanned or yet to be digitized can still be viewed, but only by clicking on the show link that will display the hidden (non-digitized) items. If you are interested in accessing these non-digitized materials, please email info@freedomarchives.org.
Exploring the Collections without the Search Bar
Under the heading Browse By Collection, you’ll notice most of the Freedom Archives’ major collections. These collections have an image as well as a short description of what you’ll find in that collection. Click on that image to instantly explore that specific collection.
Basic Searching
You can always type what you’re looking for into the search bar. Certain searches may generate hundreds of results, so sometimes it will help to use quotation marks to help narrow down your results. For instance, searching for the phrase Black Liberation will generate all of our holdings that contain the words Black and Liberation, while searching for “Black Liberation” (in quotation marks) will only generate our records that have those two words next to each other.
Advanced Searching
The Freedom Archives search site also understands Boolean search logic, specifcally AND/+, NOT/-, and OR operators. Click on this link for a brief tutorial on how to use Boolean search logic. Our search function also understands “fuzzy searches.” Fuzzy searches utilize the (*) and will find matches even when users misspell words or enter in only partial words for the search. For example, searching for liber* will produce results for liberation/liberate/liberates/etc.
Keyword Searches
You’ll notice that under the heading KEYWORDS, there are a number of words, phrases or names that describe content. Sometimes these are also called “tags.” Clicking on these words is essentially the same as conducting a basic search.
Welcome to the Freedom Archives' Digital Search Engine.The Freedom Archives contains over 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings which date from the late-1960s to the mid-90s and chronicle the progressive history of the Bay Area, the United States, and international movements. We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings. Our collection includes weekly news, poetry, music programs; in-depth interviews and reports on social and cultural issues; numerous voices from behind prison walls; diverse activists; and pamphlets, journals and other materials from many radical organizations and movements.

Civil Rights/Black Liberation Movements Organizations

This collection contains materials on organizations involved in the Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movements, such as SNCC, CORE and SCLC, as well as lesser-known organizations. It contains an extensive collection on Black Liberation organizations including the Black Liberation Army and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense with rare audio, newspapers and other resources. 

Subcollections

  • African People
    African People's Socialist Party (APSP)
    Formed in 1972, the African Peoples Socialist Party (APSP) is a revolutionary organization whose main goals are to sustain the Black Power Movement, defend the countless Africans locked up in US prisons, and develop relationships with Africans worldwide.
  • Afrikan Peoples Party
    Afrikan Peoples Party
    After RAM disbanded in 1968, the organization continued to function under other names, one of them being the Afrikan Peoples Party.
  • Black Liberation Army
    Black Liberation Army
    The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was an underground, black nationalist militant organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981.
  • Black Panther Party for Self-Defense
    Black Panther Party for Self-Defense
    The Black Panther Party was an African-American revolutionary socialist organization active in the United States from 1966 until 1982. The 13 sub-collections contain audio, video and paper materials focusing on different aspects of the Black Panther Party
  • Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
    Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
    Founded in 1942 the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) pioneered the use of nonviolent direct action in the US civil rights struggle and became one of the leading activist organizations in the American Civil Rights Movement.
  • League of Revolutionary Black Workers
    League of Revolutionary Black Workers
    The League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW) was formed in 1969 in Detroit, Michigan. Its members were concentrated in the auto and other industrial sectors and represented increasing militancy and political action by Black workers.
  • Lowndes County Freedom Organization
    Lowndes County Freedom Organization
    The Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) was started in 1965 as a voter registration project under the direction of activist Stokely Carmichael. In 1965, Lowndes County in Alabama was 80% black but not a single black citizen was registered to vote.
  • MOVE Organization
    MOVE Organization
    MOVE was a communal organization that advocated for Black Liberation and for nature laws and natural living. It was founded in 1972 in Philadelphia, PA.
  • Non-Violent Action Committee
    Non-Violent Action Committee
    Founded in Los Angles in the Spring of 1964, The NVAC began as the action faction of the local CORE chapter but soon developed into an autonomous civil rights organization focusing on urban renewal, fair housing and employment and poverty reduction.
  • Revolutionary Action Movement RAM
    Revolutionary Action Movement RAM
    The Revolutionary Action Movement was founded in 1963 by young activists led by Max Stanford (Muhammad Ahmad). RAM was a semi-clandestine organization and articulated a revolutionary program for Blacks that fused Black Nationalism with Marxism-Leninism.
  • Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
    Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
    The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an American civil rights organization founded in 1957. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and played a large role in the American Civil Rights Movement.
  • Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
    Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
    The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was a student led grassroots civil rights organization founded in 1960. SNCC played a major role in many civil rights actions but is best known for its voter registration projects in the deep South.

Documents

Jihad News (Vol. 1-6) Jihad News (Vol. 1-6)
Publisher: Afrikan People's PartyYear: 1974Volume Number: Vol. 1-6Format: PeriodicalCollection: Afrikan Peoples Party
Vol. 1 No. 6 of Jihad News. Main cover story on the May 25, 1974 African Liberation Day. Features a commentary on the related forces of New-Colonialism, Imperialism, Racism, and Capitalism and urges people to support African Liberation Day. Also includes articles on the Sharpsville Massacre in South Africa, the racist rulings of Nixon's Supreme Court, malnutrition in Africa and the American south, FBI infiltration of the Black Nationalist movement, a tribute to Queen Mother Moore, influential Pan-African leaders, and reports on the 6th Pan Afrikan Congress and the situations in Zambia, Grenada, and Zimbabwe.
On Contradictions Between the People On Contradictions Between the People
Publisher: African People's Socialist PartyDate: 2/1977Format: MonographCollection: African People's Socialist Party (APSP)
Criticisms of the August 21st Coalition by the African People's Socialist Party and Burning Spear Committee. Followed by Response and Self-Criticism by Seven Members of the Coalition.
U.S. Government Continues Attack on Revolutionary Black Women U.S. Government Continues Attack on Revolutionary Black Women
Author: Vicki AdamsPublisher: African People's Socialist PartyDate: 2/1977Volume Number: Vol. 4-9Format: ArticleCollection: African People's Socialist Party (APSP)
Article about the criminal persecution of Assata Shakur.
Statement of the African National Prison Organization Solidarity Organization Statement of the African National Prison Organization Solidarity Organization
Publisher: African National Prison Organization Solidarity CommitteeYear: 1978Call Number: Format: StatementCollection: African People's Socialist Party (APSP)
The African National Prison Organization Solidarity Committee discusses the ongoing mass incarceration of revolutionary leaders. In this statement of solidarity with the African National Prison Organization, the Solidarity Committee exposes the exploitation of colonized people at the hands of the capitalist/imperialist system and the need to partake in the anti-colonial struggle. This statement calls on "North American (white) people who have taken a working class stance" to vote against the reinstatement of the death penalty in California prisons and join in the support of ANPO.
On Building an African National Prison Organization On Building an African National Prison Organization
Publisher: African People's Socialist PartyDate: 11/3/1977Call Number: Format: ProposalCollection: African People's Socialist Party (APSP)
A proposal concerning the need for an African National Prison Organization. Following the September 4th gathering of several Black nationalist organizations in response to the National Mobilization to Free Dessie Woods, it was decided to develop a higher level of unity within pro-Independence forces by creating the African National Prison Organization (ANPO). The foundational principles of ANPO are: self-determination, political independence, anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and self-defense. The monograph also discusses the current state of African people colonized within the US listing problems such as unemployment, police brutality, vigilante justice, and the crisis of imperialism. The need to build ANPO stems from the crisis of imperialism which the government responds to by incarcerating African people and subjecting them to the death penalty. The African People's Socialist Party goes on to list other major reasons that the ANPO is needed and their suggestions for internal structure and organization.
BLA Communique No. 14 BLA Communique No. 14
Publisher: BLA Coordinating CommitteeFormat: CommuniqueCollection: Black Liberation Army
BLA Communiques BLA Communiques
Publisher: BLA Coordinating CommitteeYear: 1971-1972Volume Number: No 1-5, No 12Format: MonographCollection: Black Liberation Army
Black Liberation Army Communique [Nov. 5 1981] Black Liberation Army Communique [Nov. 5 1981]
Publisher: BLA Coordinating CommitteeDate: 11/5/1981Format: CommuniqueCollection: Black Liberation Army
Black Liberation Army Communique: A Message from the Underground. Includes an essay entitled, "On the Strategic Alliance of the Armed Military Forces of the Revolutionary Nationalist and Anti-Imperialist Movement."
The Nature of Black Revolution The Nature of Black Revolution
Publisher: BLA Coordinating CommitteeFormat: MonographCollection: Black Liberation Army
"As Black Revolutionaries we recognize the existence of the Black Nation in diaspora. That is to say we hold that the tens of millions of Black people scattered throughout the amerikkan indistrial centers constitute a nation, a colony. We seek the liberation of that colony -- as a nation, and not as a mere class or racial minority. In other words, we reject the Proletarian Revolution in the generally accepted sense of the term, and opt for Black Revolution."
Break De Chains Break De Chains
Publisher: National Committee for the Defense of Jo Anne Chesimard and Clark SquireYear: 1973Format: CompilationCollection: Black Liberation Army
Messages and statements from members of the Black Liberation Army (BLA).