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

G is Free G is Free
Date: 6/10/1997Call Number: V 007Format: VHSCollection: Geronimo Pratt
Approximately 10 separate news blitzes/interviews about Geronimo Pratt’s release from prison. Footage of him addressing the judge and maintaining his innocence. Most news blurbs discuss Pratt’s history in the Vietnam War, membership in LA chapter of the Black Panther Party, and his being framed by the chief witness, Julius Butler, an FBI and police informant in the murder case of Carolyn Olson, a Santa Monica schoolteacher. Shots of his welcoming back to Marin City, with family, friends and community members, anxious for their “hero” to return. One later news clipping is an interview with Pratt on the one year anniversary of his release. Again Pratt openly discusses the corruption of the FBI and their targeting of the Black Panther Party.
Geronimo/Mumia Event Geronimo/Mumia Event
Date: 8/16/1997Call Number: PM 352Format: Cass A & BCollection: Geronimo Pratt
Rally held at Mission High School in San Francisco to commemorate the release of Geronimo ji Jaga Pratt and to demand the release of Mumia Abu Jamal. Speakers include Geronimo Pratt who thanks people for their support. Geronimo compares his case and Mumia's and recognizes Afeni Shakur who speaks about Geronimo, Mumia and her son, Tupac.
National People’s Congress - Attica Event National People’s Congress - Attica Event
Date: 9/20/1997Call Number: PM 384Format: Cass A & BCollection: Geronimo Pratt
Includes an update on Leonard Peltier by the National People’s Congress, the American Indian Movement and the Bring Peltier Home Committee. Keynote address is by Geronimo Ji Jaga, just released from prison three months previously. He recounts his own conditions and experiences in prison, how much of his own education was facilitated by his cellmates and the importance of education in the revolutionary struggle. He talks about creating the prison lawyers manual and assisting fellow comrades in filing suits and knowing and understanding prisoners’ rights. Geronimo also focuses on the importance of using international law to validate revolutionary activity, framing the struggle in an international lens and the necessity of continuing to approach the United Nations. Ji Jaga touches on solidarity and explains to the audience that all races can be comrades in the struggle… furthermore detailing how adept the “powers that be” are in creating fictitious organizations that perpetuate divisions. Finally, Geronimo speaks on the essential role that women have played in the struggle and gives updates on the status of various political prisoners being held around the United States.
Interview with Eddie Ellis Interview with Eddie Ellis
Date: 12/10/1997Call Number: PM 387AFormat: Cass ACollection: Political Prisoners- General Info
Ellis was a former political prisoner who now directs an organization to educate the public about the prison industrial complex. He talks about prison re-entry and recidivism, the destruction of college-level education programs in the prison system and its consequences. He also discusses reforming the criminal justice system.
G is Free G is Free
Date: 6/10/1997Call Number: V 586Format: DV CamCollection: Geronimo Pratt
Approximately 10 separate news blitzes/interviews about Geronimo Pratt’s release from prison. Footage of him addressing the judge and maintaining his innocence. Most news blurbs discuss Pratt’s history in the Vietnam War, membership in LA chapter of the Black Panther Party, and his being framed by the chief witness, Julius Butler, an FBI and police informant in the murder case of Carolyn Olson, a Santa Monica schoolteacher. Shots of his welcoming back to Marin City, with family, friends and community members, anxious for their “hero” to return. One later news clipping is an interview with Pratt on the one year anniversary of his release. Again Pratt openly discusses the corruption of the FBI and their targeting of the Black Panther Party.
The Murder of Fred Hampton (1-B) The Murder of Fred Hampton (1-B)
Date: 1/1/1997Call Number: C 10 103Format: DV CamProducers: Film Group of Chicago: Mike GrayCollection: COINTELPRO 101 Raw Materials
Directed by Howard Alk. Produced by Mike Gray. Associate Producer: Emmett Grogan; Camera: Mike Gray, Howard Alk; Sound: Jones Cullinan, John Mason, Chuck Olin; Editor: Howard Alk; Assistant editors: Jones Cullinan, John Mason; Additional Photography: Gordon Quinn; Production Manager: Jim Dennett. In 1968 the Film Group, a Chicago production company, began filming a documentary about the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party and their chairman Fred Hampton. A fiery orator, Hampton was only 20 years old at the time, but his electrifying words and actions were inspiring young Black people to demand respect and to insist that their power and voice be felt in local politics, in any politics. But Fred Hampton's dream included all people when he proclaimed in the voice of the prophet, "... if we don't stop fascism it'll stop us all." At that same moment the FBI/CIA was implementing their notorious domestic counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) aimed at illegally suppressing domestic dissent and aimed especially at growing radical political organizations like the Black Panther Party. One FBI memo stated their charge as the need to "prevent the rise of a 'messiah' who could unite and electrify the militant black antinationalist movement." Working with local police departments, the government moved against Black Panther chapters and leaders across the country. On December 4, 1969, in a predawn FBI-directed Chicago police raid, four Panthers suffered gunshot wounds, and Mark Clark and Fred Hampton were murdered. Within hours, Panthers arranged to get the Film Group crew into the scene and they were able to record the carnage. The film shows vividly what the police do to those who dare to openly, aggressively challenge government authority. In addition, the footage of the bloody, bullet-riddled wreckage directly contradicted the State's Attorney's version of the raid, and so filmmakers and Panthers came together to prove that Hampton had been the designated target of the violent, punitive raid. The film's inquiry pursues official spokesmen and traps them in their own lies and attempt at a cover-up of a brutal orchestrated assassination.
Eyes of the Rainbow Eyes of the Rainbow
Date: 1/1/1997Call Number: CD 900Format: DVDProducers: Gloria RolandoProgram: Remastered 2013Collection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Deals with the life of Assata Shakur, the Black Panther and Black Liberation Army leader who escaped from prison and was given political asylum in Cuba, where she lives in exile. Based on a visit with Assata in Havana. She tells us about her history and her life in Cuba. This film is also about Assata's AfroCuban context, including the Yoruba Orisha Oya, goddess of the ancestors, of war, of the cemetery and of the rainbow.