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 Five Years After Attica Five Years After
Date: 9/14/1976Call Number: PM 148Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: David Levine, Richard HarrisCollection: Attica
Attica: Five Years After speaks of the injustices that led up to the Attica rebellion as well as those that occurred in its aftermath. Includes clips from the days surrounding the Attica rebellion, but is mostly the accounts of inmates, guards and lawyers five years after the assault. Accounts given of how the prison had changed, the investigation of the rebellion and how trials were conducted. Shows Rockefeller’s role in how the events of the rebellion took place as well as the investigations afterward. Interview with Dacejiwieah (John Hill) , the only man convicted in connection to the Attica Rebellion and who was sentenced to 20 years to life. Includes the Manifesto of the Inmates of Attica State Prison read by LD Barkley. Interview with Ron Wert (president of the officers union Local 1040) and Wayne Cure. Interview with Lynn Carson, a member of the jury that tried Shango (Bernard Strobble).
Remember Attica: The Rebellion Remember Attica: The Rebellion
Date: 9/11/1971Call Number: PM 149Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Delores CostelloProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Live coverage of the Attica rebellion starting September 9, 1971. LD Barkley reads the prisoner’s manifesto which outlines their demands . Tom Soto of the Prisoner Solidarity Committee speaks on the prison conditions that lead up to the rebellion. Members of the negotiating committee, Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, Black Panther leader, Bobby Seale, Assemblyman Jim Evers and Juan Ortiz of the Young Lords Party are interviewed while visiting the prison. The inmates requested that three reporters be sent into the prison. Contains the reporters’ interviews with inmates and hostages from within the prison during the occupation.
Inside Attica- An Interview with Frank Smith Inside Attica- An Interview with Frank Smith
Date: 2/14/1972Call Number: PM 155Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Bruce SolowayProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Bruce Soloway interviews Frank Smith, a prisoner and a leader of the Attica rebellion, isolated from the media since its violent end. Smith speaks on the torture he received following the rebellion, the premeditated murder of LD Barkley, the racial problems created by the institution, the inhumane treatment towards prisoners by the judicial and correctional department, and the lack of educational materials and health care within the prison. Smith emphasizes the need for communication between guards and prisoners and the need for the oppressed people of the United States to start act to change the conditions of their lives. After five years of incarceration Smith reports that Attica has changed for the worse. Excerpted on PM 151.
Remember Attica: Reconstruction, Reflection, Reaction Remember Attica: Reconstruction, Reflection, Reaction
Date: 11/5/1971Call Number: PM 158Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Bruce Soloway, Paul FisherProgram: WBAICollection: Attica
Part V of the “Remember Attica” series. Responses of clergy, attorneys, doctors, congressmen and the prisoner’s relatives in the weeks following the rebellion. Lawyers were admitted on 9/17/71. A week later the National Lawyers Guild gave a press conference outside the prison. They concluded that Rockefeller, and prison officials (Oswald, Mancusi and Vincent) provoked the attack by giving wrongful information to guards and troopers. On 9/17/71 BUILD, black community activists in Buffalo, went to Meyer Memorial Hospital where seriously wounded prisoners had been taken. BUILD’s executive director, Bill Gater demands that the administrative director of the hospital let him see the prisoners or give him information on their conditions. A list of prisoners and their medical conditions is read. The next day clergy and relatives are let in to see patients. Reverend Richard Ford, president of BUILD speaks about the conditions of the prisoners. Committees were formed to investigate the events at Attica. A group of New York clergymen and a congressional delegation group speak on Attica.Finally on 9/29 relatives are let into the prison to speak with prisoners. Interviews are conducted with families exiting prison.