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

Ricanstructing Vieques Ricanstructing Vieques
Date: 1/1/1999Call Number: V 005Format: VHSProducers: Ugly planet mediaCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
a punkumentary featuring the band Ricanstruction, directed by Vagabond.2/3 of the island is being destroyed by the Navy, the women and children have cancer, there is little employment. “ Another example is... you are at the beach, relaxing...one time we were at Sunbay this was in ‘87 or ‘88..we were with kids playing, and a few tanks came out of the water, various kinds of tanks..everybody was in shock, I grabbed my daughters and everybody was screaming then they went back in to the water, so if somebody would have been where they came out that person would have been dead. So it’s a mistake- there are many mistakes.”
Jalil Muntaqim interviews (4 of 4) Jalil Muntaqim interviews (4 of 4)
Call Number: V 081Format: VHSProducers: John O’ReillyCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Last of the 4 interviews. Only about 10 minutes. Asked about what he does to keep his soul intact in prison. Describes music, exercise, prayer, keyboard, congo drums, martial arts (in the past) - all help to make him feel human. Interviewers drive around prison, brief footage of perimeter of Auburn Correctional Facility.
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Date: 1/1/1999Call Number: V 101Format: VHSProducers: WNETProgram: American MastersCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
The life and achievements of Paul Robeson - athlete, singer and scholar. Robeson is also the champion of human rights, Black people and the disenfranchised.
Victor Jara - El derecho de vivir en paz Victor Jara - El derecho de vivir en paz
Date: 1/1/1999Call Number: V 161Format: VHSProducers: Carmen Luz ParotCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
This documentary, released in 1999, remembers the life of the Chilean folk singer Victor Jara. It documents his life from his infancy in the campo to his adolescent years spent living in a marginal community in Santiago, his work in the theater, and his support of the beliefs of the socialist president Salvador Allende. His death in the National Stadium as well as the exile of his widow Joan Turner and many others, not to mention the torture and death of thousands, were all a result of the military coup led by Augusto Pinochet following the death of President Allende. The documentary draws a parallel between the history of Jara and the transformations that his country suffered after September 11, 1973.