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

Safiya Bukhari Interview with Albert Nuh Washington Safiya Bukhari Interview with Albert Nuh Washington
Date: 2/24/2000Call Number: PM 168Format: Cass A & BProducers: Sally O’Brien, Safiya BukhariProgram: Where We LiveCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Interview for WBAI program ‘Where we Live’ - Safiya Bukhari with Albert Nuh Washington, shortly before his death in prison.
Alan Berkman Interview Alan Berkman Interview
Date: 10/30/1990Call Number: PM 218AFormat: Cass AProgram: Where We LiveCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
An interview with political prisoner Dr. Alan Berkman’s lawyer, on his then deteriorating health condition and the medical treatment of prisoners, political prisoners in particular, within the prison system.
Profiles:  A series on U.S. Political Prisoners Profiles: A series on U.S. Political Prisoners
Date: 12/1/1990Call Number: PM 219Format: CassetteProducers: Zenzile Khoisan, Sally O’BrienCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
A series on U.S Political Prisoners produced for the Special International Tribunal on the Violation of Human Rights of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in United States Prisons and Jails. The series of profiles offer insight into the political activity, incarceration, and prison conditions of: Dr. Alan Berkman, Sekou Abdullah Odinga, Marilyn Buck, Assata Shakur, Bashir Hameed and Susan Rosenberg. They individually discuss their treatment as prisoners and specifically political prisoners. Other issues brought up are Black Liberation Movement, Panther 21 case, the relationship of revolutionary struggle to the mass movement, government and media depictions of revolutionaries, life in prison, and continued struggle and action within the prison system.
The Resistance Conspiracy The Resistance Conspiracy
Date: 4/13/1989Call Number: PM 222Format: CassetteProgram: In our VoicesCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Judy Greenspan, Mary O’Melviney, and Nikichi Taifa -- lawyers and activists-- discuss the Resistance Conspiracy Case and the struggles for Laura Whitehorn, Marilyn Buck, Linda Evans, Tim Blunk, Susan Rosenberg, and Alan Berkman, all charged with "conspiracy to protest and alter government policies through use of violence," specifically stemming from a bombing of the Capitol Building in 1983. This broadcast explores the political nature of the case, the lack of evidence and due process involved in this case, as well as the horrendous conditions faced by these prisoners of war. Judy Greenspan, Mary O'Melviney, and Nikichi Taifa also try to contextualize the actions of these prisoners with a broader justice movement against the crimes of the U.S. nationally and internationally.
You Can’t Jail the Spirit: Political Prisoners in the United States You Can’t Jail the Spirit: Political Prisoners in the United States
Call Number: PM 226Format: CassetteProducers: Gloria AlonzoCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
This program takes a look at political prisoners within the United States and their contributions and efforts to the social justice movement. The program takes a look at four specific cases. The first portion of the program addresses Cuban detainees being held without due process in U.S. federal prisons. The second part takes a look at Haitian refugees in the U.S. The third part discusses Irish national Joseph Daugherty who was imprisoned in 1983 without being charged of a crime within the U.S. The final portion of the program takes a look at the case of Silvia Baraldini, an Italian national who was imprisoned on charges of conspiring to free prominent Black Panther leader Asada Shakur and conspirancy to commit a bank robbery.
Interview with Susan Rosenberg about conditions in the women’s political prison, Lexington. Interview with Susan Rosenberg about conditions in the women’s political prison, Lexington.
Call Number: PM 438AFormat: Cass AProducers: Sally O’Brian, Terry BissonCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Interview with Susan Rosenberg, an American revoluntionary anti-imperialist female political prisoner, about Lexington prison. . Susan Rosenberg describes the focus of Lexington as “the psychological element of incarceration to disintigrate the personality”. She speaks about the terribly harsh and restrictive conditions of Lexington, as well as the psychological impact of the prison. Rosenberg speaks about how every prisoner is there for political reasons, as the control unit is not based on disciplinary measures, but on classificationof who and what the prisoners are associated with. Susan Rosenberg’s attorney, Michael Schubert, speaks about the isolation and solitary confinement the Lesington prisoners experience, and how such isolation is aimed at keeping the prisoners isolated from politics.
Interview with Susan Rosenberg Interview with Susan Rosenberg
Call Number: PM 253AFormat: Cass AProducers: WBAICollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Susan Rosenberg speaks from the Metropolitan Corretional Center in New York City about political prisoners and prisons. She describes the conditions in the control unit in Lexington women’s prison and the government’s reasons for selecting the women sent to Lexington.
Interview with Susan Rosenberg on KMUD Interview with Susan Rosenberg on KMUD
Call Number: PM 225Format: CassetteProgram: KMUDCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Susan Rosenberg speaks over the phone from a Washington DC jail. As political activists, Rosenberg and others were charged with conspiracy to influence foreign domestic policy by illegal violent means. With a right to have a necessity to resist, Rosenberg and others actively fought against US war crimes of injustice. While being charged for four DC bombings (Capital Bombings), multiple organizations claimed responsibility. Rosenberg was initially caught with explosives and was linked to the conspiracy. A usual sentence for explosives is 3 ½ years, however her situation is politically charged and she first received a 58-year sentence. With no evidence of her doing the bombings, she was charged by political association. With no direct evidence, Susan explains that involvement can mean responsibility and potential conviction. Along with her explanation of past problems with the government, Rosenberg talks about her recent struggle with confinement in the Lexington Control Unit and her movement to shut it down. She speaks of the injustices of sending political prisoners to solitary confinement (Lexington Control Unit). Rosenberg also explains her experiences with being retried a second time with no new evidence. The second indictment was for bombing, while the first was conspiracy. These actions were illegal due to laws of double jeopardy. Eventually, a federal judge dismissed the case. As the struggle continues, Susan Rosenberg describes that she is gaining more opportunities to fight her case and political prisoners will have more rights as well.
Political Prisoners in the US Political Prisoners in the US
Call Number: PM 256Format: CassetteProducers: Prison Radio ProjectProgram: You Can’t Jail the Spirit #8Collection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Political prisoners Ed Mead and Linda Evans, former political prisoner Pat Levasseur and Marilyn Kalmen, attorney and a member of Out of Control: Lesbian Community in Support of Political Prisoners. A discussion of their anti-imperialist actions; defying the government by using armed guerrilla tactics. Government repression of anti-imperialist action (labeled "terrorism") through lengthy jail sentences, harsh prison conditions, corruption of the prison industrial complex, and organizing support for political prisoners.
Women Political Prisoners Panel Women Political Prisoners Panel
Call Number: PM 275Format: Cass A & BCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
A panel features several women who served time as political prisoners. Main issues discussed include Puerto Rican political prisoners and the effect prison has on families as the women share their experiences. Speakers include a former member of the Weather Underground arrested for planning to bomb the offices of California State Senator John Briggs.