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 We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings.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

Political Prisoners- General Info

Political prisoners are people prosecuted for their political beliefs or ideologies, activities, and affiliations with social movements. Political prisoners can be anybody from any race, culture, age, or gender. They are often associated and identified as leaders in organizations or movements opposed to the atrocities committed by the United States government. Some examples of these crimes are the infringement of privacy, police brutality, genocide of indigenous people,forced dispossession of land.        
 

The objective of the incarceration of political leaders by the government is to destabilize social movements of resistance. Political prisoners are often given harsh, long term sentences in prisons where they are mistreated on a daily basis. Mistreatment includes extensive periods of time in solitary confinement, denied recreational time, and insufficient visiting time.The primary purpose of mistreatment of political prisoners is to prevent organizing behind prison walls. The government often paints a negative picture of political prisoners by calling them criminals or terrorists in an effort to justify the imprisonment of these people to the general public. Often times when Political Prisoners are being prosecuted, they are charged with other crimes to hide the fact they are being imprisoned for their political beliefs.Their commonality is that they are fighting government oppression and were unjustly prosecuted in an effort to destroy their respective movements.             

Documents

From Attica to Abu Ghraib: Reflections by Political Prisoners in the U.S. From Attica to Abu Ghraib: Reflections by Political Prisoners in the U.S.
Publisher: Jericho Amnesty MovementYear: 1995Volume Number: April-MayFormat: MonographCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Message from Political Prisoners Message from Political Prisoners
Date: 4/23/1992Call Number: PM 420AFormat: Cass ACollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
A compilation of statements by political prisoners speaking out against the proliferation of control units in the US.
Working Paper on Federal Parole/Release for U.S. Political Prisoners and Prisoner-of-War Working Paper on Federal Parole/Release for U.S. Political Prisoners and Prisoner-of-War
Authors: Susan Rosenberg, Linda Evans, Timothy BlunkDate: 7/1989Format: MonographCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
The purpose of this working paper is to begin a process of discussion among lawyers and concerned individuals about actual strategies for release of political prisoners through parole from federal prison.
Campaign to free Jose Luis Avina packet Campaign to free Jose Luis Avina packet
Publisher: Campaign to free Jose Luis Avina; Bario Defense Committee; Anarchist Black Cross Foundation; Format: CompilationCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Reproductions. Compilation of information from various sources
The Role of Prisons in US Society: Political Prisoners and Prisons as Concentration Camps - It Cannot Happen Here or Can It? The Role of Prisons in US Society: Political Prisoners and Prisons as Concentration Camps - It Cannot Happen Here or Can It?
Publisher: Freedom Now!: Campaign for Amnesty and Human Rights for Political Prisoners in the United StatesFormat: MonographCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Reproduction
What is a Political Prisoner / Definition of Political Prisoners [mp3] What is a Political Prisoner / Definition of Political Prisoners [mp3]
Call Number: Format: mp3Collection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Good summary definition of political prisoners.
Political Prisoners in the United States: An Organizing Handbook Political Prisoners in the United States: An Organizing Handbook
Publisher: Malcolm X Grassroots MovementYear: 2001Call Number: Format: MonographCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Handbook containing definitions of political prisoners and prisoners of war; an overview of New Afrikan resistance; information about Cointelpro and its consequences on the Black Liberation Movement; biographies and how to write to political prisoners; how you can support political prisoners and a reading list.
Enemies of the State Enemies of the State
Authors: Marilyn Buck, David Gilbert, Laura WhitehornPublisher: A Resistance in brooklyn (RnB)Date: 5/1999Call Number: Format: MonographCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
A frank discussion of past political movements, victories and errors, and the current political climate for revolutionary struggle within the u.s.a.
Never Losing Faith... for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Never Losing Faith... for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Publisher: National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg CaseCall Number: Format: MonographCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Statements and letters from regional support groups from around the country and important figures in support of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (including WEB Dubois, Mary Church Terrell, and more) as well as excerpts from articles about the Rosenbergs and their case, the Rosenbergs' last will and testament; and appeals to release Morton Sobell.
Expose the Prisons Free the Prisoners Expose the Prisons Free the Prisoners
Publisher: The Angela Davis Defense CommitteeCall Number: Format: FlyerCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Newspaper advertisement for a two day symposium on prison conditions and political defense, organized by The Angela Davis Defense Committee. This symposium offers a space to discuss the ways people see and feel the inequities of the prison system. The hopes for the symposium are to expose the prison system for its brutality, racism, and inhuman conditions; examine the myth of the "criminal"; explain the economic basis of jails and their class nature. The goals are to identify new strategies for political defense that go beyond filing petitions and organizing rallies and demonstrations and to spread the word about other defense efforts being used locally as well as around the country. The speakers- Fania Davis Jordan, David Tijerina, Tony Martinez, Sal Candelabra, Inez Williams, Bettina Aptheker, Warren Billings, Kendra Alexander, Mark Allen, Jesus Maldonado, Fay Stender, Michael Kennedy, Karl Yoneda, Antonia Padilla, Michael Tigar, Kayo Hallinan- will be speaking from personal experience about the conditions in the prisons and the nature of the penal system.