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

Big Black speaks at Attica anniversary event Big Black speaks at Attica anniversary event
Call Number: PM 052Format: CassetteProgram: Prison MovementCollection: Attica
Big Black (Frank Smith) speaks about “where we should see ourselves in 1977”; US as prison state; need for intra-racial and inter-racial solidarity; responsibility and commitment to political organizing; ends with Q and A session
Unicor Demonstration Unicor Demonstration
Date: 7/24/1996Call Number: SS 010Format: CassetteProducers: Sue SuprianoCollection: Sue Supriano Interviews and Programs
Comments from various people about the prison industry.
Interviews with UNICOR officials Interviews with UNICOR officials
Call Number: SS 019Format: CassetteProducers: Sue SuprianoCollection: Sue Supriano Interviews and Programs
1) Unicor official spokesperson 2) Curt Gray, union 3) another union personal 4) Henry Kroll Businessman 5) Dr. Corey Weinstein
Interview with Kiilu Nyasha Interview with Kiilu Nyasha
Date: 9/1/1997Call Number: SS 021Format: CassetteProducers: Sue SuprianoCollection: Sue Supriano Interviews and Programs
Interview with Kiilu Nyasha regarding the Soledad Brothers.
Interview with Selby Interview with Selby
Call Number: SS 035Format: CassetteProducers: Sue SuprianoCollection: Sue Supriano Interviews and Programs
Interview with Selby, one of the youth activist who was arrested in the Soweto South Africa uprising.
What Will You Say In 2030? What Will You Say In 2030?
Call Number: PM 242Format: CassetteCollection: Angela Davis
(Cassette begins on side B) Angela Davis hosted a conference with NPR with an audience of mostly young people. The conference is titled "What Will You Say In 2030?" Davis encourages her audience to think of the present as history in the making, and to truly analyze the past, present, and future to synchronize them into a coordination of meaningful events. Davis articulates the importance of activism and reclaiming the future of humanity. Davis articulates the racist agenda behind Aboriginal incarceration in Australia, the Reagan administration and the war on drugs, prison population, the death penalty, education, and corporate America. The concealment of private agendas and groups influencing national law and social structure is another point Davis makes. In this conference, Davis ultimately stresses the importance of critical thinking when analyzing the causes, effects, intentions, and implications of political history socially, racially, and economically and learning to create a solid understanding of history's affect and importance on the present and the future.
Interview with Susan Rosenberg on KMUD Interview with Susan Rosenberg on KMUD
Call Number: PM 225Format: CassetteProgram: KMUDCollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Susan Rosenberg speaks over the phone from a Washington DC jail. As political activists, Rosenberg and others were charged with conspiracy to influence foreign domestic policy by illegal violent means. With a right to have a necessity to resist, Rosenberg and others actively fought against US war crimes of injustice. While being charged for four DC bombings (Capital Bombings), multiple organizations claimed responsibility. Rosenberg was initially caught with explosives and was linked to the conspiracy. A usual sentence for explosives is 3 ½ years, however her situation is politically charged and she first received a 58-year sentence. With no evidence of her doing the bombings, she was charged by political association. With no direct evidence, Susan explains that involvement can mean responsibility and potential conviction. Along with her explanation of past problems with the government, Rosenberg talks about her recent struggle with confinement in the Lexington Control Unit and her movement to shut it down. She speaks of the injustices of sending political prisoners to solitary confinement (Lexington Control Unit). Rosenberg also explains her experiences with being retried a second time with no new evidence. The second indictment was for bombing, while the first was conspiracy. These actions were illegal due to laws of double jeopardy. Eventually, a federal judge dismissed the case. As the struggle continues, Susan Rosenberg describes that she is gaining more opportunities to fight her case and political prisoners will have more rights as well.
Youth - an endangered species Youth - an endangered species
Date: 4/8/1985Call Number: PM 358Format: CassetteCollection: Prisons - Youth
A workshop in Birmingham, Alabama about the incarceration of Black and Latino youth. Discusses gang violence. Participants explain that youth need to reconnect with their culture which has been lost through mass imprisonment.