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

Interviews about George Jackson Interviews about George Jackson
Date: 9/6/1971Call Number: PM 097Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Grenada TVCollection: George Jackson
Camera Roll 11: interviews with Black Panthers who were incarcerated with George Jackson at San Quentin; discussing how other prisoners were encouraged by and respected George’s defiance of the State’s orders; talk about the hole and degrading mistreatment; discussion about the yard and racist pitting of groups against each other by guards ; discuss what kind of self-discipline George had and what kind you need once inside ; Camera Roll 12: a former inmate of San Quentin pointing out various elements of a prison on a diagram - not much good on audio only.
Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton Speaks at University of Chicago Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton Speaks at University of Chicago
Date: 4/1/1969Call Number: PM 115 R1Format: Reel 1Collection: Fred Hampton
Same as PM 115 R2 & R3 but at 3 3/4 ips Chairman of Illinois for the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton, speaks at the University of Chicago about the U.S. prison system and the fight for equal rights among people of color. Speech gives insight on Black Panther Party’s school of thought regarding education and politics, with a focus on the “Breakfast for Children Program” and the defense fund for Black Panthers needing bail, including Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, Dennis Moral, Bobby Hutton, Michael “Mickey” White, and Bobby Rush. Question and answer session with the audience at the end of the tape gives depth to the Black experience at this time.
30th Anniversary of the murder of Fred Hampton 30th Anniversary of the murder of Fred Hampton
Date: 12/4/1999Call Number: PM 077Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Claude Marks, Lincoln BergmanCollection: Fred Hampton
Program made for the 30th anniversary of the murder of Chicago Panther leader, Fred Hampton. Includes portions of a speech made by Hampton in April, 1969 at the University of Chicago, comments by Akua Ngeri (his wife at the time) from an interview by Kiilu Nyasha, and portions of an original broadcast on Nothing is more Precious than from 1974.
Assata Shakur: clips from her 1980 address to the people after her escape from prison Assata Shakur: clips from her 1980 address to the people after her escape from prison
Call Number: PM 227Format: CassetteCollection: Assata Shakur
This program is an edited version of her address to the people after she escaped. She begins the recording by stating that she loves everyone and encourages everyone to continue to struggle for our liberation. Assata talks about how Black people are constantly under attack by the poor school system, infiltration of drugs, welfare system, police state, etc. She talks about the necessity for a Black Nation and how Black women must play a key role in the struggle for liberation. She says that they are the most closely related to the struggle because of their position in White American society. Assata talks about the direction of the US government and how it is continually becoming more racist and fascist; how the government sees Black peoples as expendable and just "a thorn in their side."
Assata Shakur: clips from her 1980 address to the people after her escape from prison Assata Shakur: clips from her 1980 address to the people after her escape from prison
Call Number: PM 228Format: CassetteCollection: Assata Shakur
Same as PM 227. This program is an edited version of her address to the people after she escaped. She begins the recording by stating that she loves everyone and encourages everyone to continue to struggle for our liberation. Assata talks about how Black people are constantly under attack by the poor school system, infiltration of drugs, welfare system, police state, etc. She talks about the necessity for a Black Nation and how Black women must play a key role in the struggle for liberation. She says that they are the most closely related to the struggle because of their position in White American society. Assata talks about the direction of the US government and how it is continually becoming more racist and fascist; how the government sees Black peoples as expendable and just "a thorn in their side."
Ossie Davis Recites Frederick Douglas Ossie Davis Recites Frederick Douglas
Format: mp3Producers: Claude Marks, Mark Schwartz, Lincoln BergmanProgram: Real Dragon, assorted insertsCollection: Black Liberation
A sample of Ossie Davis reciting Frederick Douglass' “West India Emancipation Speech" originally delivered on August 3, 1857. Davis' narration was delivered at an event for the San Quintin 6 on March 3, 2000.
Black Arts Black Culture Black Arts Black Culture
Publisher: Journal of Black Poetry PressYear: 1972Format: PeriodicalCollection: Various Black Liberation Movement Publications