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

Mark Essex Mark Essex
Date: 1/6/1974Call Number: KP 012AFormat: Cass AProducers: Dave LampellCollection: Black Liberation
Dave Lampell delivers a short program documenting the shootout in New Orleans in 1974 where Mark Essex, a 23 year old Vietnam veteran killed police officers. The area was closed off, and calling on backup for reinforcements, police numbers were in the hundreds. They believed there to be more than one sniper. They shot Mark Essex over one hundred times, killing him the first night of the shootout. The police also took out many of their own in an insane display of force. The rest of the program gives a history of Mark Essex’s life in Kansas and suffering racism in the military. Great quotes about the racist State from his mother and sister.
Black Liberation Army - Fact or Fantasy Black Liberation Army - Fact or Fantasy
Date: 1/1/1974Call Number: PM 165Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Ron Magee, Rest of the News, Claude Marks, Bruce Soloway, Mark SchwartzProgram: Rest of the NewsCollection: BLA
Interviews and discussion concerning the Black Liberation Army and it’s alleged members. The question is raised as to the actual existence of the group which some claim to be a fabrication of the media and police to justify increased repression of Black revolutionaries. Various criminal trials of black activists are looked at to reveal how the local Police, FBI, News Media, and U.S. Justice System have worked together to pursue a repressive course to combat what they see as a threat to the very structure of American Society. Interviews detail use of police violence and torture to intimidate and demoralize the black radical movement. The cases of the “New York Five”, Joanne Chesimard (Assata Shakur), and Fred Hilton are described, along with the killing of Fred Hampton and the imprisonment of Muhammad Arif and Victor Cumerbash. Black Liberation Army prisoners (Herman Bell and Gabriel Torres) are interviewed extensively. Family members speak to the violence and repression of the police at a press conference. The murder by police of Twyman Myers is extensively addressed.
Herman Bell Out-takes Herman Bell Out-takes
Date: 9/16/1974Call Number: PM 078Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Claude MarksCollection: Herman Bell
Herman Bell talks about Gerald Ford’s appointment and the double standard for justice in the US. Discusses the dehumanization and demasculinization of prisoners and alienation from work. Compares the experiences of native people during colonization to redevelopment of communities in cities at present. Discusses the process of moving people toward consciousness and the US Health Department’s pattern of genocide throughout history.
David Gilbert Interview David Gilbert Interview
Date: 7/31/1998Call Number: V 036Format: VHSProducers: Sam GreenCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
David Gilbert interviewed at Great Meadows Prison in New York about his political history and development as an anti racist, anti sexist, anti imperialist person. Includes commentary on the development of SDS (Student for a Democratic Society), the Black Power Movement, the Black Panther Party (BPP), Black Liberation Army (BLA), COINTELPRO and many other issues from the 60s forward. VHS copy of DV camera originals, Part 1
David Gilbert Interview David Gilbert Interview
Date: 7/31/1998Call Number: V 037Format: VHSProducers: Sam GreenCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
David Gilbert interviewed at Great Meadows Prison in New York about his political history and development as an anti racist, anti sexist, anti imperialist person. Includes commentary on the development of SDS (Student for a Democratic Society), the Black Power Movement, the Black Panther Party (BPP), Black Liberation Army (BLA), COINTELPRO and many other issues from the 60s forward. VHS copy of DV camera originals, Part 2
Interview with Herman Bell Interview with Herman Bell
Date: 9/16/1974Call Number: CD 540Format: Cass A & BProducers: Claude MarksCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Interviews with Herman Bell by Claude Marks. The first conducted on September 16, 1974, the day of his conviction of a San Francisco bank robbery and the second September 25, 1974. “just came from the courtroom..if I had had my hopes up high for justice or fair play, I would have been disappointed. No great surprise. The whole charade. I was very relaxed and prepared for it. My position and always will be...look for nothing from these people...” Herman Bell speaks to the issue of prison and how he will continue to struggle ‘I dare to struggle and I dare to win.”
Interview with Herman Bell Interview with Herman Bell
Date: 8/31/1977Call Number: CD 541Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Interviews with Herman Bell on August 31, 1977 at USP Marion. He speaks mainly about prison conditions, control units, behavior modification, the injustice of the prison system.
Interviews with Herman Bell Interviews with Herman Bell
Date: 9/16/1974Call Number: CD 542Format: CDProducers: KPFACollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Interview done by Claude Marks with Black Liberation Army member Herman Bell. Bell discusses the need for organizing within the black community and the means of strengthening itself through resistance and struggle. The SLA and Black Liberation Army are discussed extensively. 6/13/1974 Compilation of interview clips with Herman Bell. Among the topics discussed are Bell’s bank robbery conviction in San Francisco, the history of black rebellions in America, and methods of encouraging people to organize and participate in revolutionary change. There are frequent references to the Black Liberation Army (BLA), Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), and the Weather Underground. Prison conditions and police harassment are also discussed. 9/16/1974 & 9/25/1974