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.

Independent Collections

These collections were produced by independent journalists. Many of these recordings make up the bulk of the original collection of the Freedom Archives.

Subcollections

Documents

Horace Cayton - Identity of a Negro in the US Horace Cayton - Identity of a Negro in the US
Date: 12/20/1964Call Number: CE 143BFormat: 7 1/2 ips Side BProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Colin Edwards Collection
Historical factors, like slavery, exclusion from white society, and industrialization, that shape the "demoralized" sense of self and social status as a Black in the US. How contemporary Black art recognizes that struggle and hardship enables a new understanding of Blacks in the US.
Arna Bontemps - History of Negro Literature and the Harlem Renaissance Arna Bontemps - History of Negro Literature and the Harlem Renaissance
Date: 12/20/1964Call Number: CE 144BFormat: 7 1/2 ips Side BProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Colin Edwards Collection
About the first Black literature in the US. Discusses the gradual emergence of Black talent and publishers. Details the rise and fall of Harlem Renaissance beginning in 1917 with Claude McKay, in the 1920's with WEB DuBois publication of Harlem Flowers, and ending in 1931 with the Great Depression.