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

Scores & Encores - Music from Simply Heavenly by Langston Hughes Scores & Encores - Music from Simply Heavenly by Langston Hughes
Date: 1/1/1957Call Number: CD 178Format: CDProgram: Scores & EncoresCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Scores & Encores - Music from Simply Heavenly by Langston Hughes with Claudia McNeil and Melvin Stuart.
Paul Robeson: The Peace Arch Concerts Paul Robeson: The Peace Arch Concerts
Date: 5/18/1952Call Number: CD 346Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
The Peace Arch contains both spoken and musical selections from the first two of Paul Robeson's four Peace Arch Concerts given on the U.S./Canadian border. Personnel includes: Paul Robeson (vocals); Lawrence Brown, Alan Booth (piano); Harvey Murphy (spoken vocals). Recorded live at The Peace Arch Park, Blaine, Washington on May 18, 1952 & August 16, 1953. Includes liner notes and a bibliography by Ian Shaw. Digitally remastered by Laurie Flannery (Northeastern Digital Recording, Southboro, Massachusetts). Standing atop a flat-bed truck parked one-foot from the Canadian border, Paul Robeson sang to crowds of hundreds of thousands during four concerts between 1952 and 1955. The concerts had their genesis after Robeson was denied entry into Canada by the U.S. State Department for a concert in support of the Mine, Mill and Smelters Worker's Union of British Columbia. Robeson had been an American cultural icon for the preceding three decades as a singer and actor. By the time of the concerts presented on this disc, however, he had become persona non grata in the highly-charged atmosphere of the domestic cold war. His well-known support of a variety of progressive causes had caused his passport to be revoked and made it virtually impossible for him to perform professionally in the United States. It was against this backdrop that the Peace Arch Concerts took place. Robeson's voice is in top form in both of the concerts presented here. His low notes contain the richness and earthy resonance for which he was famous. In his memorable performance of Ol' Man River (which Jerome Kern is said to have written with Robeson in mind), he changes the last verse from one of acquiescence to one of defiance. Robeson's famous 12 1/2 minute speech presages the civil rights movement which is to follow in the ensuing two decades.
Paul Robeson: Freedom Train and the Welch Transatlantic Concert Paul Robeson: Freedom Train and the Welch Transatlantic Concert
Call Number: CD 347Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Freedom Train presents bookends of Paul Robeson's political activism through art. The album begins with Robeson's stirring 1947 reading of the Langston Hughes poem "Freedom Train," and concludes with a 1957 concert given by telephone for Miners in Wales when the United States Government denied Robeson's right to travel due to his political beliefs. 1. Freedom Train 2. Introduction From Wil Paynter 3. Paul Robeson's Greetings 4. Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel 5. All Through the Night 6. This Little Light of Mine 7. All Men Are Brothers 8. Slumberland 9. Thanks From Wil Paynter 10. Y Deln Aur (The Golden Harp) 11. Thanks From Paul Robeson 12. Wales 13. We'll Keep A Welcome in the Hillside