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. 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.

Search Results

Malcolm X Speech Malcolm X Speech
Call Number: KP 053Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Malcolm X
This speech delivered by Malcolm X calls on African-Americans to create a sense of black nationalism among themselves. He claims that there will be no help from Democrats, Republicans or Americans, and that African- Americans should proceed with their revolution, “Freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody.” The ballot or the bullet, liberty or death. (This record was edited a bit, with two snippets of other speeches interjected, in the same vein as Malcolm X’s speech.)
Dick Elman interviews Malcolm X in 1961 Dick Elman interviews Malcolm X in 1961
Call Number: KP 054Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Malcolm X
Dick Elman interviews Malcolm X in 1961 on police brutality in Los Angeles, CA. Malcolm X explains what happened the previous Friday, when police entered a Mosque with their guns flaring, severely injuring 7 men, and killing an official of the Mosque. He calls on the FBI to stop investigating outside the country, and to start paying attention to the “Gestapo tactics used by police officers in the United States of America.”
Speech by Malcolm X at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, 1964 Speech by Malcolm X at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, 1964
Date: 12/20/1964Call Number: KP 056Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Charles HobsonCollection: Malcolm X
Speech given at DNC about how some African countries won their independence through anger and violence. Black people must speak the language of the captors and recognize that what happens in Mississippi has nationwide impact. There is no difference between Northern and Southern Democrats because they work as a whole not as separate parts. Freedom is not something that is given to you, you must take it and Black people must be equipped to do that in the same way that others have done it in the past. Audio tape is cut off at the end.
Malcolm X: Militant Labor Forum, “Prospects for Freedom in 1965.” Malcolm X: Militant Labor Forum, “Prospects for Freedom in 1965.”
Date: 1/7/1965Call Number: KP 062Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Malcolm X
Malcolm X speaks at a Militant Labor Forum and discusses the difference between the Black Muslim movement and the Black Nationalist group, the difference between moral and political protest, the labeling of extremists as monsters and also looks to examples of black freedom fighters in Africa as models for African Americans demanding equal rights. There are editorialized interruptions from the DJ.
Malcolm X: Words from the Frontlines - Exerpts From the Great Speeches Malcolm X: Words from the Frontlines - Exerpts From the Great Speeches
Date: 1/1/1992Call Number: CD 489Format: CDCollection: Malcolm X
"We Want Complete Separation" (13:33) "You Got What's Know as 'White's Disease'" (12:20) "Keep That White Man's Claws off Our Women" (5:25) "There's No Such Thing as a Non-Violent Revolution" (4:26) "I'm a Field Negro" (8:37) "... Stop Singin' and Start Swingin" (7:42) "... By Any Means Necessary" (14:03) "You Can't Hate the Roots of a Tree and Not Hate the Tree" (5:55) [Untitled] (:40)
1964 Speech by Malcolm X 1964 Speech by Malcolm X
Date: 1/1/1964Call Number: KP 230AFormat: Cass ACollection: Malcolm X
Malcolm X discusses Black Nationalism as the means to freedom for African Americans. He suggests bringing the U.S. government before a world court because of its treatment of African Americans. Speech begins at 1:59
Baldwin and Malcolm X Baldwin and Malcolm X
Call Number: CV 002Format: Cass A & BCollection: Malcolm X
Debate between Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and Laverne McCummings. Subjects include the "Sit in" movement, NAACP and the student movement, and the meaning of intergration. Check CD 350 may be the same.
Malcolm X Speaking Malcolm X Speaking
Date: 1/1/1964Call Number: Vin 054Producers: Ethnic Records, Malcolm XCollection: Malcolm X
A compilation of excerpts from speeches given by Malcolm X. The first speech compares the nonviolent protest method employed by the civil rights movement and the black militancy, or self-defense strategy of Black Power and the Nation of Islam. The second speech describes the role of the United Nations in the global black liberation movement. Side 2 includes three speeches about the Birmingham Sunday School Bombing, and more on black militancy and nationalism.
Up You Mighty Race: Recollections of Marcus Garvey Up You Mighty Race: Recollections of Marcus Garvey
Date: 1/1/1921Call Number: Vin 055Producers: Garvey Records, Marcus Garvey, Amy Ashwood Garvey, Thelma Massy, Lord Obstinate, The Tony Thomas OrchestraCollection: Malcolm X
Tribute album to Marcus Garvey and his work for the black nationalist and Pan-Africanist movements. Side A includes songs about Garveyism by Thelma Massy, Lord Obstinate ,and the Tony Thomas Orchestra. Side B, narrated by Garvey's wife, Amy Ashwood Garvey, includes the pivotal speech, "Up, You Mighty Race."