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

The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer
Date: 1/5/1979Call Number: KP 018Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProgram: Life of Fannie Lou HamerCollection: Voices from the South
This recording focuses on Fannie Lou Hamer, known as the lady who was "sick and tired of being sick and tired." This is a tribute to her life and work with Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the struggls she engaged in throughout her life.
Say it Plain Say it Plain
Date: 1/1/2005Call Number: CD 737Format: DVDProducers: Catherine Ellis, Stephen Drury SmithCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Speeches by: Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey , Mary McLeod Bethune, Walter White, Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, Howard Thurman, Dick Gregory, Fannie Lou Hamer, Stokely Carmichael, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Hope Franklin, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Benjamin L. Hooks, Joseph Lowery, Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, Johnetta Cole, Lani Guinier, Clarence Thomas, Randall Robinson, and Julian Bond.
Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966 Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966
Date: 1/21/1997Call Number: CD 661Format: CDProducers: Smithsonian FolkwaysCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Documents the importance of songs in the Civil Rights Movement. Teachers covering this tumultuous time in American History in their class can certainly give students a better sense for the time by not only showing videos of the peaceful demonstrations and police brutality, but by playing them some of the songs from this album. Many of these freedom songs were recorded live in mass meetings held in churches. These are not just spirituals and gospel songs, but draw upon rhythm and blues, football chants, blues, and calypso for their beauty and energy. The first disc features songs from mass meetings, where a singer or core of singers leads the people in the singing of the songs, while the second focuses on ensemble works by the SNCC Freedom Singers and other groups. The accompanying booklet written by Bernice Johnson Reagon combines historic photographs with insights into each song, providing an excellent education in the meaning of the music. Reagon not only explains how these songs were song, but also which songs were prominent for the Selma-to-Montgomery March ("Governor Wallace"), "Freedom Train" for the vigil for the Mississippi Democratic Party elections. 2 CDs
We'll Never Turn Back We'll Never Turn Back
Call Number: V 729Format: VHSProducers: Estuary PressCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
We'll Never Turn Back was filmed in Mississippi in 1963 during the dangerous voter registration drives of that era. Appearing in the film are Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leaders Bob Moses and Julian Bond, as well as local civil rights leaders Curtis Hayes, Hollis Watkins, Amzie Moore and E.W. Steptoe. There are interviews with black farmers and share croppers, including Fannie Lou Hamer, on their experiences (often bloody) trying to register to vote.
Dream Deferred Dream Deferred
Call Number: V 731Format: VHSProducers: Estuary PressCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Dream Deferred was produced by SNCC for its southern voter registration drive in 1964, the year of the Mississippi Summer. It contains interviews with activists, voter registrants and leaders, and features Fannie Lou Hamer's speech, including her famous line: "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired."