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

Interview with Farika Birhan Interview with Farika Birhan
Call Number: SS 129AFormat: Cass AProducers: Sue SuprianoCollection: Sue Supriano Interviews and Programs
Interview with Farika Birhan on the Maroons of Jamaica.
Interview with Dessima Williams Interview with Dessima Williams
Date: 2/16/1983Call Number: SS 157AFormat: Cass AProducers: Sue SuprianoCollection: Sue Supriano Interviews and Programs
Interview with Dessima Williams, who was in government during the Grenada Revolution.
Speech by Jose Ponce, 1st Secretary of the Cuban Interest Section Speech by Jose Ponce, 1st Secretary of the Cuban Interest Section
Date: 10/21/1994Call Number: JG/ 089AFormat: Cass AProducers: Judy GerberProgram: A Defiant HeartCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Jose Ponce, 1st Secretary of the Cuban Interest Section in the U.S. (the only formal forum of Cuba/U.S. diplomatic contact) speaks at Emory University, GA, October 5, 1994. Ponce summarizes the history of Cuba following the Spanish-American War. He glorifies the achievements of the Cuban communist system: full literacy, power, free education, universal healthcare, antiracism efforts, advances for women, Cuban aide to needy foreign countries. He decries U.S. attempts to sabotage Cuba, specifically the trade embargo which has cost $40 billion dollars, restrictions on remittances, travel bans, and assassination attempts. He argues that the embargo and subsequent loss of infrastructure gave Cuba with no other choice but to ally itself with COMECON and copy the Soviet model. He explains how the 1989 USSR collapse and subsequent loss of 85% of its national trade greatly diminished the Cuban standard of living. He discounts the Cuban pro-democracy protests because he argues Cuba is already a democracy with a rich grassroots political life and elected parliament, just not a multiparty system. He discusses how Cuba is currently debating the first tax in its post-revolutionary history to help revive the declining economic infrastructure.
Cuba: Andres Gomez Cuba: Andres Gomez
Date: 6/11/1993Call Number: CV 083AFormat: Cass ACollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Chuy Varela interviews Andres Gomez. coordinator for the Antonio Maceo Brigade, the leftist progressive Cuban organization out of Miami. Topics include the contemporary state of US-Cuban relations, right wing Cuban Americans, and the Cuban economy's troubles.
Interview with Miguel Angel Garcia Interview with Miguel Angel Garcia
Date: 6/14/1995Call Number: CV 146AFormat: Cass AProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
About the popularity and history of Afro-Cuban music. Interview in Spanish.
WBAI News Coverage of Battleship Intrepid Takeover WBAI News Coverage of Battleship Intrepid Takeover
Date: 5/5/1984Call Number: LA 213AFormat: Cass ACollection: Puerto Rico
WBAI news coverage of the Battleship Intrepid Air and Space Museum takeover by members of A New Movement in Solidarity for Puerto Rico Independence and Socialism. The demonstration in New York was organized by the aforementioned members in opposition of “Ocean Venture 84.” The demands by the organization included a press conference, amnesty and an end to the United State’s intervention in the wars in Central America and their massive military maneuvers in the Caribbean.
Joe Ponce Speaks on the Conditions in Cuba under the US Embargo Joe Ponce Speaks on the Conditions in Cuba under the US Embargo
Date: 10/5/1994Call Number: JG/ 158AFormat: Cass AProducers: Judy GerberProgram: A Defiant HeartCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Joe Ponce speaks on the United States’ embargo on Cuba and the conditions of Cubans on the island. Ponce criticizes the US embargo on Cuba especially the fact that the US has negatively impacted Cuba’s trading relationships with other countries. For example, Ponce describes how Cubans living in the U.S. can’t even send remittances to their families in Cuba. Mr. Ponce calls for support from the audience to end the U.S. embargo on Cuba.