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

Cointelpro's Attacks Against The Chicano Movement Cointelpro's Attacks Against The Chicano Movement
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: Xican@
COINTELPRO may not be a well-understood acronym but its meaning and continuing impact are absolutely central to understanding the government’s wars and repression against progressive movements. COINTELPRO represents the state’s strategy to prevent movements and communities from overturning white supremacy and creating racial justice. COINTELPRO is both a formal program of the FBI and a term frequently used to describe a conspiracy among government agencies—local, state, and federal—to destroy movements for self-determination and liberation for Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous struggles, as well as mount an institutionalized attack against allies of these movements and other progressive organizations.
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.
Legacy of Torture Legacy of Torture
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: Black Panther Party general
In 2005 several former members of the Black Panther were held in contempt and jailed for refusing to testify before a San Francisco Grand Jury investigating a police shooting that took place in 1971. The government alleged that Black radical groups were involved in the 34-year old case in which two men armed with shotguns attacked the Ingleside Police Station resulting in the death of a police sergeant and the injuring of a civilian clerk. In 1973, thirteen alleged "Black militants" were arrested in New Orleans, purportedly in connection with the San Francisco events. Some of them were tortured for several days by law enforcement authorities, in striking similarity to the horrors visited upon detainees in Guant
Waiting Waiting
Author: Mumia Abu-JamalPublisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: La Lucha Continua: a talking mural in San Francisco
Mumia Abu-Jamal on the intense isolation and sense of waiting on death row.
La Lucha Continua La Lucha Continua
Author: Susan GreeneCollection: La Lucha Continua: a talking mural in San Francisco
La Lucha Continua/The Struggle Continues; a mural located in the Mission at 3260 23rd St - between Mission and Capp Streets in San Francisco. features 35 portraits of activists, philosophers and artists and their recorded voices accessible via cell phone.
Susan Greene: Muralist Susan Greene: Muralist
Author: Susan GreenePublisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: La Lucha Continua: a talking mural in San Francisco
Susan Greene is a social art practitioner, educator and clinical psychologist, using multiple media and formats to reveal, disrupt, and make connections leading to new ways of thinking, seeing and acting. Greene’s practice straddles a range of cultural arenas, new media, public art, video, and installation. She focuses on the borders and migrations involving memory, decolonization and the relationships between creativity, trauma and resilience in the context of globalism. Greene has led or participated in more than 30 public art projects worldwide. Originally from NYC, Greene has been a resident of the Bay Area for 25 years. She is visiting faculty and director of the Learning Center at the San Francisco Art Institute and has a psychotherapy practice in San Francisco.
Susan Greene on scaffolding of La Lucha Continua Susan Greene on scaffolding of La Lucha Continua
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: La Lucha Continua: a talking mural in San Francisco
In progress shot of Susan Greene at work on "La Lucha Continua".
Judy Bari on the Timber Workers Judy Bari on the Timber Workers
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: La Lucha Continua: a talking mural in San Francisco
Charismatic environmental and social justice leader Judi Bari was born November 7, 1949 in Baltimore, Maryland. Judi was a fighter and organizer for many social and environmental justice causes. The common denominator was her indignation over injustice, whether in the form of war, racism, sexism, political repression, economic exploitation, or the unnecessary destruction of ecosystems. Here she speaks on building a rapport with timber workers.
Maurice Bishop at Hunter College Maurice Bishop at Hunter College
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: La Lucha Continua: a talking mural in San Francisco
An excerpt from Maurice Bishop's speech at Hunter College, 5 June, 1983. Maurice Bishop was the Prime Minister of Grenada from March 1979 until October 1983 when he was executed at Fort Rupert.
Madame Binh entreats US Congress Madame Binh entreats US Congress
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: La Lucha Continua: a talking mural in San Francisco
Madame Binh expresses the whole of Vietnam's wish to be liberated from American aggression.