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

Attica Prison Rebellion Attica Prison Rebellion
Collection: Attica
Frank "Big Black" Smith and L.D. Barkley, who proclaimed the Attica Manifesto, and Elizabeth Fink, an attorney for the Attica Brothers. Barkley was killed in the massacre. Smith survived mass torture to help lead the eventually successful legal battle on behalf of the Attica Brothers.
Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton Speaks at University of Chicago Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton Speaks at University of Chicago
Collection: Fred Hampton Jr.
Taken from speech at University of Chicago, March 1969. Fred Hampton about the U.S. prison system and the fight for equal rights among people of color
Nelson Mandela Released Nelson Mandela Released
Collection: African liberation movements
Short excerpt from speech by Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, upon his release from Victor Verster Prison after 27 years of incarceration.
Maya Angelou reads "Harriet Tubman" Maya Angelou reads "Harriet Tubman"
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: Black Liberation
Excerpt of Maya Angelou reading "Harriet Tubman" by Margaret Walker at at 1972 benefit for Angela Davis.
Joan Baez at the funeral of Juan de la Cruz Joan Baez at the funeral of Juan de la Cruz
Producers: Frances EmleyCollection: Latin@
Activist folksinger Joan Baez sings at the funeral of Juan de la Cruz, a farm worker active in the United Farm-worker\'s Union who was killed on a picket line by a strikebreaker\'s bullet.
On the History of Lesbianism On the History of Lesbianism
Author: Judy GrahnProducers: Barbara Lubinski, Heber DreherCollection: Gender and Sexuality
Poet Judy Grahn recited one of her best known poems "On the History of Lesbianism".
Leonard Peltier - What Warriors Do Leonard Peltier - What Warriors Do
Collection: Leonard Peltier
Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier discusses the responsibility of a warrior.
Lolita Lebron Lolita Lebron
Collection: Puerto Rico
Lolita Lebron on Puerto Rican independence speaks in San Francisco, date unknown. Subjects include abortion, forced sterlization of Puerto Rican women, and genocide. Draws from her own experience as a political prisoner and discusses their feelings of abandonment, isolation and obscurity. Makes parallels between Vietnam's victory over the US (in which the American people were complicit) and Puerto Rico's own liberation.
Martin Luther King Jr. "Something is happening in our world" Martin Luther King Jr. "Something is happening in our world"
Collection: Martin Luther King Jr.
Excerpt from "I've been to the Mountaintop" speech. This speech was given April 3, 1968, at Mason Temple, Church of God in Christ Headquarters, in Memphis, Tennessee shortly before Rev. King was assassinated.
Meridel Le Sueur "Let the Bird of the Earth Fly" Meridel Le Sueur "Let the Bird of the Earth Fly"
Collection: Gender and Sexuality
Meridel Le Sueur, with Matthew Siegel on flute, recites part of her poem - "Let the Bird of Earth Fly". Meridel was a lifelong revolutionary, writer, and feminist visionary of French, Irish, and Lakota ancestry, and a Minnesota-based supporter of AIM and all liberation struggles.