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

Charisse Shumate: Fighting for Our Lives Charisse Shumate: Fighting for Our Lives
Publisher: Freedom Archives; California Coalition for Women PrisonersCollection: Gender and Sexuality
This 37-minute video was created in collaboration with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and focuses on the life of Charisse Shumate and women in California state prisons. It includes amazing prison interviews as well as materials from State Senate hearings on conditions for women in the California State Prison System and historical video footage of Charisse and her family.
Free Herman Bell Free Herman Bell
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesFormat: Collection: Herman Bell
More than 2.4 million human beings are imprisoned in the US. This massive incarceration—overwhelmingly aimed at people of color and criminalizing youth—makes the US by far the greatest purveyor of punishment in the world. Among these millions are a number of political prisoners, and among these courageous sisters and brothers is Herman Bell. Herman Bell has been a political prisoner in the US for nearly 40 years. When national liberation and revolution rocked the world in the 1960s and 70s, Herman was active in the social justice movements of those times, particularly the Black Liberation movement and the Black Panther Party.
Introduction to Marion Prison Introduction to Marion Prison
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
This video, created by the Committee to End the Marion Lockdown in 1988, provides an introduction to Marion Prison, located in Marion, Illinois. Marion was the first control unit prison in the United States and this video outlines what makes Marion a control unit prison, what daily life looks like for men incarcerated in Marion and the complete power of Marion's staff.
Judge Bruce Wright Speaks Judge Bruce Wright Speaks
Publisher: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
In a speech given on November 4th 1989, Judge Bruce Wright talks about the legacy of racism in the courts. He specifically focuses on how the US Supreme Court has served as a historical ally of institutional racism in the United States.
Model Control Unit Cell in Marion Model Control Unit Cell in Marion
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
The Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML) creates a full size model of a typical control unit cell in Marion. This video, created in 1987, provides powerful visual representation of the daily existence of men incarcerated in Marion.
The History of Marion Prison The History of Marion Prison
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: Committee to End the Marion Lockdown
This video, created by the Committee to End the Marion Lockdown in 1988, serves to provide historical context around the opening of Marion Prison in 1963.