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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.
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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

Mumia Abu Jamal speaks in tribute to Safiya Bukhari Mumia Abu Jamal speaks in tribute to Safiya Bukhari
Date: 8/30/2003Call Number: CD 143Format: CDProducers: Prison Radio Project, Mumia Abu JamalCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Mumia Abu Jamal speaks about the life and passing of Safiya Bukhari, Dedicated, nationally known Black liberation fighter and leader in the Jericho Amnesty Movement, died in the early hours of August 24, 2003 from complications due to prolonged illness.
The Black Panther Party Suite: All Power to the People The Black Panther Party Suite: All Power to the People
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: CD 176Format: DVDProducers: Fred HoCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Composer Fred Ho and video artist Paul Chan collaborate on a historical digital interactive music-video performance DVD: The Black Panther Party Suite - All Power to the People!
Day of the Gun Day of the Gun
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: V 131Format: VHSProducers: KRONCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
KRON’s description: In the fall of 1970 George Jackson skyrocketed to international fame with the publication of his book, "Soledad Brother, The Prison Letters Of George Jackson". By the next year, he was dead. The story of George Jackson is a story of the dark side of America. In August of 1971 when Jackson was a 29 year old inmate at California's San Quentin Prison he became the central figure in the prison's bloodiest day. Jackson obtained a gun and in less than 30 minutes a murderous rampage turned the adjustment center into a slaughterhouse. Six men, including Jackson were killed. During his prison life, George Jackson was a polarizing figure, hated as much as he was loved. In the end when George Jackson's cause had been lost, and the cult of hero worship contaminated his heart and soul, Jackson sought comfort in a few loyal friends... Marx... Lenin... And Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese revolutionary who predicted...'When the prison gates fly open, the dragons will emerge.' On a hot August day with gun in hand Jackson would tell the world just that. The ascendancy of George Jackson came at a time when America's soul and its people were coming apart. The turbulent decades of the 1960's and 70's merged as one. The country's democratic institutions were severely challenged. Some advocated revolution. The unpopular war in Vietnam had become the longest and most divisive in American history. The bitter struggle for civil rights confirmed the failed promise of equality for all. Riots turned American cities into burning embers. The political assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy deepened the country's paranoia. Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party wanted justice beyond the streets of Oakland. The prisons of California had become a target for revolutionary change as well. The 'new left' viewed the growing convict population as symptomatic of the country's deeper social ills. Inmates were championed as political prisoners, vanguards of the coming revolution, victims of their fascist, capitalist oppressors. When George Jackson emerged as the new god and leader of the left, those on the right saw him as the most powerful threat in the prison system.
The Black Panther Party Suite: All Power to the People The Black Panther Party Suite: All Power to the People
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: V 285Format: DVDProducers: Fred HoCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Founded in the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party came to symbolize the apotheosis of the explosive late-1960s in American society. Everything about the Panthers was provocative: their Mao-ist inspired political slogans, their ubiquitous black berets and leather jackets, their clenched fist Black Power salute, their big Afro-hairstyles, their practice of openly bearing firearms, and their disciplined militancy and revolutionary political vision. The Black Panthers not only fired the imagination of their generation but also shifted the strategy of the African American struggle and all movements for justice and social change in the United States by seeking solutions rooted in a basic redistribution of power. A composer/musician and Asian American, I came of age as a teenager in the late-1960s and early-1970s. The energy of this movement and the music of that time set the direction for both my life and my music. I even joined an Asian American counterpart to the Black Panthers (c.f., Legacy to Liberation: Politics and Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific America, AK Press). I believe that the same issues of 30 years ago continue today with even more urgency and intensity. That is why I envision ALL POWERTO THE PEOPLE! THE BLACK PANTHER MUSIC/VIDEO AND MARTIAL ARTS BALLET SUITE not as a docu-drama looking back to the late-1960s/early-1970s, but as an occasion to continue the energy, spirit and vision of that period and link it to today. This, I feel, would be the real and sincere way to commemorate and celebrate the Panthers. Combining live music performed by the Afro Asian Music Ensemble with electric guitar and African percussion (eight musicians), live interactive digital video mixing and martial arts ballet choreography, the interactivity and dynamism of this one hour performance work creates a revolutionary VISION QUEST. The video component collages newspaper images, posters, flyers, video clips and text in a gigantic scenescape to serve as the only scenic design and narrative element for the music and martial arts ballet. The martial arts ballet is based upon Chinese kung fu and wushu, to evoke and pay homage to the inspiration of the Chinese revolution and Mao Zedong upon the Black Panthers.
Day of the Gun - 1 Day of the Gun - 1
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: V 343Format: Mini DVProducers: KRONCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
KRON’s description: In the fall of 1970 George Jackson skyrocketed to international fame with the publication of his book, "Soledad Brother, The Prison Letters Of George Jackson". By the next year, he was dead. The story of George Jackson is a story of the dark side of America. In August of 1971 when Jackson was a 29 year old inmate at California's San Quentin Prison he became the central figure in the prison's bloodiest day. Jackson obtained a gun and in less than 30 minutes a murderous rampage turned the adjustment center into a slaughterhouse. Six men, including Jackson were killed. During his prison life, George Jackson was a polarizing figure, hated as much as he was loved. In the end when George Jackson's cause had been lost, and the cult of hero worship contaminated his heart and soul, Jackson sought comfort in a few loyal friends... Marx... Lenin... And Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese revolutionary who predicted...'When the prison gates fly open, the dragons will emerge.' On a hot August day with gun in hand Jackson would tell the world just that. The ascendancy of George Jackson came at a time when America's soul and its people were coming apart. The turbulent decades of the 1960's and 70's merged as one. The country's democratic institutions were severely challenged. Some advocated revolution. The unpopular war in Vietnam had become the longest and most divisive in American history. The bitter struggle for civil rights confirmed the failed promise of equality for all. Riots turned American cities into burning embers. The political assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy deepened the country's paranoia. Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party wanted justice beyond the streets of Oakland. The prisons of California had become a target for revolutionary change as well. The 'new left' viewed the growing convict population as symptomatic of the country's deeper social ills. Inmates were championed as political prisoners, vanguards of the coming revolution, victims of their fascist, capitalist oppressors. When George Jackson emerged as the new god and leader of the left, those on the right saw him as the most powerful threat in the prison system.
Day of the Gun - 2 Day of the Gun - 2
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: V 344Format: Mini DVProducers: KRONCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
KRON’s description: In the fall of 1970 George Jackson skyrocketed to international fame with the publication of his book, "Soledad Brother, The Prison Letters Of George Jackson". By the next year, he was dead. The story of George Jackson is a story of the dark side of America. In August of 1971 when Jackson was a 29 year old inmate at California's San Quentin Prison he became the central figure in the prison's bloodiest day. Jackson obtained a gun and in less than 30 minutes a murderous rampage turned the adjustment center into a slaughterhouse. Six men, including Jackson were killed. During his prison life, George Jackson was a polarizing figure, hated as much as he was loved. In the end when George Jackson's cause had been lost, and the cult of hero worship contaminated his heart and soul, Jackson sought comfort in a few loyal friends... Marx... Lenin... And Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese revolutionary who predicted...'When the prison gates fly open, the dragons will emerge.' On a hot August day with gun in hand Jackson would tell the world just that. The ascendancy of George Jackson came at a time when America's soul and its people were coming apart. The turbulent decades of the 1960's and 70's merged as one. The country's democratic institutions were severely challenged. Some advocated revolution. The unpopular war in Vietnam had become the longest and most divisive in American history. The bitter struggle for civil rights confirmed the failed promise of equality for all. Riots turned American cities into burning embers. The political assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy deepened the country's paranoia. Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party wanted justice beyond the streets of Oakland. The prisons of California had become a target for revolutionary change as well. The 'new left' viewed the growing convict population as symptomatic of the country's deeper social ills. Inmates were championed as political prisoners, vanguards of the coming revolution, victims of their fascist, capitalist oppressors. When George Jackson emerged as the new god and leader of the left, those on the right saw him as the most powerful threat in the prison system.
Day of the Gun Day of the Gun
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: CD 720Format: DVDProducers: KRONCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
KRON’s description: In the fall of 1970 George Jackson skyrocketed to international fame with the publication of his book, "Soledad Brother, The Prison Letters Of George Jackson". By the next year, he was dead. The story of George Jackson is a story of the dark side of America. In August of 1971 when Jackson was a 29 year old inmate at California's San Quentin Prison he became the central figure in the prison's bloodiest day. Jackson obtained a gun and in less than 30 minutes a murderous rampage turned the adjustment center into a slaughterhouse. Six men, including Jackson were killed. During his prison life, George Jackson was a polarizing figure, hated as much as he was loved. In the end when George Jackson's cause had been lost, and the cult of hero worship contaminated his heart and soul, Jackson sought comfort in a few loyal friends... Marx... Lenin... And Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese revolutionary who predicted...'When the prison gates fly open, the dragons will emerge.' On a hot August day with gun in hand Jackson would tell the world just that. The ascendancy of George Jackson came at a time when America's soul and its people were coming apart. The turbulent decades of the 1960's and 70's merged as one. The country's democratic institutions were severely challenged. Some advocated revolution. The unpopular war in Vietnam had become the longest and most divisive in American history. The bitter struggle for civil rights confirmed the failed promise of equality for all. Riots turned American cities into burning embers. The political assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy deepened the country's paranoia. Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party wanted justice beyond the streets of Oakland. The prisons of California had become a target for revolutionary change as well. The 'new left' viewed the growing convict population as symptomatic of the country's deeper social ills. Inmates were championed as political prisoners, vanguards of the coming revolution, victims of their fascist, capitalist oppressors. When George Jackson emerged as the new god and leader of the left, those on the right saw him as the most powerful threat in the prison system.
John Bowman Interview John Bowman Interview
Date: 6/1/2003Call Number: LT 008Format: VHSCollection: Materials shot and gathered for the making of “Legacy of Torture”
John Bowman describes being abused and tortured by New Orleans police in 1973.
John Bowman Interview John Bowman Interview
Date: 6/1/2003Call Number: LT 013Format: Mini DVCollection: Materials shot and gathered for the making of “Legacy of Torture”
John Bowman describes being abused and tortured by New Orleans police in 1973.
John Bowman and Allen Carol Interview John Bowman and Allen Carol Interview
Date: 6/1/2003Call Number: LT 014Format: Mini DVCollection: Materials shot and gathered for the making of “Legacy of Torture”
Full versions of John Bowman and Allen Carol interviews describing the torture they were forced to endure when questioned by New Orleans police in 1973.