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

Nelson Reeny speaking on Global Economics Nelson Reeny speaking on Global Economics
Call Number: KP 119Format: CassetteProducers: KPFACollection: General materials
This recording is from an informal lecture/discussion by Nelson Reeny on the future of global production and capitalism. He talks about the changes that have occurred and what he sees as inevitably coming as a result of globalization and the expansion of capitalism. He talks about the contradiction between wealth and poverty and how this will lead to a state of disaster and finally revolution. Reeny also speaks on the problems with international investing and how we can no longer look at the world from the framework of imperialism because capitalism knows no boundaries and foreign investment takes away the national identity of a product.
End of a Nightstick "Police Brutality" End of a Nightstick "Police Brutality"
Call Number: V 272Format: VHSProducers: Peter KuttnerProgram: PBSCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
In the late 1980's and throughout the 90's Commander Jon Burge and the Chicago Police Department brutalized men of color on the streets. The people of the community organized and created the Task Force to Confront Police Violence. As a result of community organizing, Jon Burge was eventually removed as commander of the Chicago Police Department.
Select B roll from American Revolution 2 & J. Edgar Hoover Select B roll from American Revolution 2 & J. Edgar Hoover
Call Number: C 10 041Format: DV CamCollection: COINTELPRO 101 Raw Materials
A gritty but essential documentary charting social turbulences in late 1960's Chicago. American Revolution 2 includes footage of the 1968 Democratic Convention protest and riot, a critique of the events by working class African-Americans in Chicago, and attempts by the Black Panther Party to organize poor, southern white youths on the city's north side. Using direct sound, a handheld camera, no script, black-and-white film stock, and natural lighting, the directors' no-frills approach appropriately reflects the raw energy of this upheaval. This scathing documentary chronicles the career of J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI for more than 40 years. His lifelong obsession with communists that began with the “Red Scare” of the early 1920s and manifested itself into a mission hell-bent on eradicating anyone suspected of engaging in anti-American activities, be they actors, politicians or protest groups. A masterful propagandist, Hoover took every opportunity given him to create a public atmosphere of outsider paranoia – and his fears ran deep. By the time of his death in 1972, Hoover’s FBI had compiled thousands of individual secret files and completed countless illegal operations.
Jose Lopez COINTELPRO 101 Extra Footage Jose Lopez COINTELPRO 101 Extra Footage
Call Number: C 10 129Collection: COINTELPRO 101 Raw Materials
José López is the executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. Under his leadership, the PRCC has developed a number of initiatives in the Humboldt Park community, including an alternative high school, a parent child learning center and day care, a museum and cultural institution, a youth drop-in center and an HIV education and advocacy organization. He has also directed efforts in urban agriculture, promoting a community health curriculum among high school students and business endeavors among the Paseo Boricua district. He is a lifelong advocate for Puerto Rican Independence from the US and his brother, Oscar López Rivera, is a Puerto Rican Independentista and US political prisoner.
An Evening in Solidarity with the Pontiac Brothers An Evening in Solidarity with the Pontiac Brothers
Publisher: The Moncada Library, May 19th Communist Organization and John Brown Anti-Klan CommitteeVolume Number: 31-JanFormat: FlyerCollection: Moncada Library
Background on the Pontiac Brothers case and upcoming actions in protest.