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

Gay & Lesbian Programming Gay & Lesbian Programming
Call Number: JG/ 031Format: CassetteProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Part of eight hours of programming put together by Judy Gerber on Gays and Lesbians. Great into song "Glory, Glory I'm a Homosexual". Interview with Carlos Ortiz, a Puerto Rican Independista and member of National committee to free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners. Ortiz discuss the Stonewall riots, AIDS work in Puerto Rican community, and repression and acceptance of homosexuality in the national liberation movement. Also interview with Carmen Vasquez a Puerto Rican Independista and member of GLTF. Music from local Atlanta gay/lesbian bands. Interview with Bill Haskill of ACT UP SF on the investigation NC senator Jesse Helms instigated against ACT UP.
Female Political Prisoners - series of interviews Female Political Prisoners - series of interviews
Call Number: JG/ 070Format: CassetteProducers: Judy Gerber, Lisa RudmanProgram: KPFACollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
This is a collection of different interviews and recordings of female political prisoners from around the world. Lisa Rudman collages them together to show the injustice towards political prisoners and to highlight some of the many tactics used by the US government and prison system to get information out of political prisoners. Rudman defines political prisoners and interviews Laura Whitehorn and Linda Evans and speaks about their cases and the circumstances leading to their imprisonment. The other political prisoners interviewed on the tape are: Dora Garcia, active in the national liberation struggles in the US colony of Puerto Rico; Mercedes Algado, a refugee active in the FSLM and FDR in El Salvador; Elizabeth Sebego, active in the Pan African Congress; Assata Shakur, active with the Black Panthers and now a refugee in Cuba; a Filipina imprisoned for her work with the church.
Camp Sister Spirit - Tape #1 Camp Sister Spirit - Tape #1
Date: 4/2/1994Call Number: JG/ 073Format: CassetteProducers: Judy GerberProgram: Camp Sister SpiritCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Camp Sister Spirit is a conference which took place at the Women’s Building in San Francisco in 1994. It is a conference between many of the organizations and NPOs that deal with queer issues and/or women’s rights. Sister spirit is defined as a call to action so that something can be built together to create permanent, grassroots change. The speakers are from diverse organizations and speak about ways to create collective change. Diedra McCalaugh (sp?) is a feminist singer/songwriter from Berkeley and performs songs from her album, “Everyday Heroes and Heroines”.
Camp Sister Spirit - Tape #2 Camp Sister Spirit - Tape #2
Date: 4/2/1994Call Number: JG/ 074Format: CassetteProducers: Judy GerberProgram: Camp Sister SpiritCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Camp Sister Spirit is a conference which took place at the Women’s Building in San Francisco in 1994. It is a conference between many of the organizations and NPOs that deal with queer issues and/or women’s rights. Sister spirit is defined as a call to action so that something can be built together to create permanent, grassroots change. The speakers are from diverse organizations and speak about ways to create collective change. On this tape many of the speakers talk about the need for increasing the public lesbian community through demonstrations and gatherings. This recording follows JG/LS 073.
Race, Class and Gender Workshop Race, Class and Gender Workshop
Call Number: JG/ 105Format: CassetteProgram: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy InstituteCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
This is a recording is of a workshop and moderated discussion about the intersections of class, race, and gender in LGBT movements. The workshop is held at a 1993 conference sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute. Several critiques on the direction that the mainstream LGBT movement is going in are made, including: The movement catering to the image of the affluent white gay male, problematic assumptions about and comparisons to the Civil Rights movement, the closet as a classist construction, and the lack of dialogue on the impact of economic policy. Other issues addressed are: gays in the military, strategies on dealing with the Right, and the spectacle of queerness in the media.
Les Chanteuses Africaines Les Chanteuses Africaines
Call Number: JG/ 106AFormat: Cass ACollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Broadcasting from the Atlanta-based WFRG station, Alicia Banks hosts her weekly radio program "Les Chanteuses Africaines: The African Female Singers featuring the Musical & Literary Voices of Black Women". In this particular recording, the show at hand is part of a special marathon of gay and lesbian themed programming at WFRG. During the course of the show, Banks addresses the intersecting issues of race, homophobia and the AIDS crisis. She also critically examines contradictions of homophobia within racially oppressed communities, and dissects the notion of the need of a singular construct of closet and coming out. Included are clips of stand-up comedy from Lea Delaria, Whoopi Goldberg and Sam Kinison, There are also songs performed by and are about LGBT people. The songs “B.D. Woman Blues” by Lucille Bogen and “The Prove It To Me Blues” by Ma Rainey remain in good audio quality, while some of the other songs included are of a poorer recording quality.
A Defiant Heart: Focus on Sodomy A Defiant Heart: Focus on Sodomy
Date: 1/8/1990Call Number: JG/ 104Format: CassetteCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld Georgia state sodomy laws in the landmark case "Bowers vs. Hardwick". Recorded here is a mass demonstration against such laws. The demonstration takes place at the Georgia state capitol on the opening day of its 1990 state legislature. Groups represented ranged from the Aids Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the National Organization for Women (NOW) to religious groups to advocates for AIDS awareness, pro-choice, anti-racism, and anti-ableism. Speakers touched upon many subjects, from the importance of choice in and out of the bedroom, the danger of sodomy laws' silencing consequences in the face of the AIDS crisis to sodomy laws' place in the long-standing history of persecution in the U.S. and in the world. Many of the speeches featured are intended to rally the crowd and do not go into great depth.
HIV/AIDS in Cuba HIV/AIDS in Cuba
Call Number: JG/ 029Format: CassetteProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Various voices on HIV/AIDS policies in Cuba and its past and present polices on gays and lesbians. Journalist Karen Wald discuss Venceremos' old policy of not allowing gays and lesbians to join the brigade. NOTE: This tape seems to be Part 3 continuing from JG 102 and JG 103.