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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 We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings.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.

Attica Prison Rebellion

On September 9, 1971, 1289 prisoners at Attica Penitentiary in New York, rose up, took 38 guards hostage, and seized D-Yard and D-Block. For four days the Black, Latino, Native American, and white prisoners formed a united front and took control of their own lives while trying to negotiate with Commissioner Russell Oswald in an effort to eliminate the inhuman, brutal conditions in the prison.Commissioner Oswald acknowledged the 28 demands made by the prisoners but refused to grant them amnesty. On the fifth day, September 13, 1971, the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller--who had refused to visit Attica and take part in negotiations--ordered an invasion that resulted in the murder of 43 men--prisoners and hostages--by the New York State Troopers.

While awaiting trial, prisoners involved in the rebellion were either sent to a different prison or remained at Attica and were brutally beaten and tortured by prison guards. 80 of the alleged leaders in the rebellion were held in 24 hour solitary confinement. After 15 months of investigating the rebellion and massacre, the Special Attica Grand Jury returned 37 sealed indictments against 60 Attica Brothers--46 of them Black, 8 White, 5 Latino, and 1 Native American. The indicted brothers were charged with alleged crimes committed during the rebellion. These 60 Attica Brothers faced over 1300 felony accusations and a combined 60,000 years imprisonment from racked up charges ranging from possession of a prison key to murder. No prison employees or officials of the state were indicted for their crimes on September 13, 1971.

This collection contains extensive audio resources from which our CD documentary The Attica Rebellion is derived. It also includes the video Attica is All of Us. The robust audio resources are complemented by paper documents focusing on the rebellion, its causes, and its aftermath. With recent additions to the collection, we are able to present the history of the Attica Rebellion through the perspectives the Attica Brothers, their families, and supporters. It now contains the narratives of the Attica Brothers in their attempt to seek truth and justice in the aftermath of the rebellion.



Documents

Attica Prison Rebellion Attica Prison Rebellion
Collection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Frank "Big Black" Smith and L.D. Barkley, who proclaimed the Attica Manifesto, and Elizabeth Fink, an attorney for the Attica Brothers. Barkley was killed in the massacre. Smith survived mass torture to help lead the eventually successful legal battle on behalf of the Attica Brothers.
Remember Attica: Blackout Remember Attica: Blackout
Date: 9/18/1972Call Number: PM 157Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Bruce Soloway, Paul FisherProgram: WBAICollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Part III of the “Remember Attica” series. Following the Attica rebellion state officials imposed a news blackout. Days after the state troopers violently ended the rebellion many reporters, lawyers, relatives and doctors are not allowed inside. Commissioner of the State Department of Corrections, Jerry Hoolinan gives a press conference, but offers no answers to the events of the preceding days. The special assistant to the Deputy Attorney General, Robert E. Fisher, gives a public statement and yet leaves the public with no answers. Authorities offer only official statements to the press. The press corners prison guards visiting Attica from other institutions, doctors, lawyers and relatives of prisoners for information. The relatives are worried and were told they could visit , but were not allowed in when they arrived. The doctors and lawyer allowed inside the prison are able to give accounts of the attacks and conditions.
Remember Attica: Reconstruction, Reflection, Reaction Remember Attica: Reconstruction, Reflection, Reaction
Date: 11/5/1971Call Number: PM 158Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Bruce Soloway, Paul FisherProgram: WBAICollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Part V of the “Remember Attica” series. Responses of clergy, attorneys, doctors, congressmen and the prisoner’s relatives in the weeks following the rebellion. Lawyers were admitted on 9/17/71. A week later the National Lawyers Guild gave a press conference outside the prison. They concluded that Rockefeller, and prison officials (Oswald, Mancusi and Vincent) provoked the attack by giving wrongful information to guards and troopers. On 9/17/71 BUILD, black community activists in Buffalo, went to Meyer Memorial Hospital where seriously wounded prisoners had been taken. BUILD’s executive director, Bill Gater demands that the administrative director of the hospital let him see the prisoners or give him information on their conditions. A list of prisoners and their medical conditions is read. The next day clergy and relatives are let in to see patients. Reverend Richard Ford, president of BUILD speaks about the conditions of the prisoners. Committees were formed to investigate the events at Attica. A group of New York clergymen and a congressional delegation group speak on Attica.Finally on 9/29 relatives are let into the prison to speak with prisoners. Interviews are conducted with families exiting prison.
Interview with Elizabeth Fink about the Attica Rebellion in 1971 Interview with Elizabeth Fink about the Attica Rebellion in 1971
Date: 7/2/2001Call Number: PM 166Format: DATProducers: Claude MarksCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Claude Marks interviews Elizabeth Fink, one of the main lawyers for the Attica Brothers Defense Committeeabout the history of the Attica Prison Rebellion and its aftermath.
Attica is All of Us Attica is All of Us
Publisher: The Freedom ArchivesCall Number: Format: Video ClipCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
September 9-13 mark the 44th anniversary of the Attica Rebellion. This massive prison takeover by hundreds of inmates and the callous repression and murders by the state of New York are part of a unique moment in US history. The legacy of Attica and the fight for human rights is carried on in the prisons of Georgia, Ohio, California and wherever people are caged for years on end.
ATTICA: "We are men. We are not beasts and will not be driven as such" ATTICA: "We are men. We are not beasts and will not be driven as such"
Publisher: Pontiac Prisoners Support CoalitionFormat: FlyerCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
See the Movie "Attica" and learn about the Pontiac Rebellion.
Liberated Guardian Liberated Guardian
Publisher: Hard Rain, inc.Date: 2/1973Volume Number: FebruaryFormat: PeriodicalCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Includes articles on Attica and prison struggle.
San Quentin to Attica: The Sound Before the Fury San Quentin to Attica: The Sound Before the Fury
Publisher: National Lawyers Guild: New York City ChapterFormat: MonographCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Includes Attica prisoners list of demands, information about negotiations between Attica prisoners and prison officials, a timeline of events at Soledad and San Quentin (1969-1971), and statements issued in support of the prison uprisings.
Attica: Two Decades of Prison Resistance Attica: Two Decades of Prison Resistance
Publisher: Black Cat Collective, Nightcrawler ABC; Paterson anarchist CollectiveYear: 1993Format: TranscriptCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Reproduction of transcript from speech given at Seton hall Law School, NJ
Long Haul Long Haul
Year: 2004Format: ArticleCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Reproduction of articles in packet from the Black Panther, Borrowed Times, Los Angeles Free Press, San Diego Door