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

Event celebrating 40 years of African independence. Event celebrating 40 years of African independence.
Call Number: AFR 042AFormat: Cass AProducers: WBAIProgram: WBAI Special Program: Southern Africa - Africa at 40Collection: African liberation movements
1997 “Africa at 40” event celebrating 40 years of African independence. Mozambique President Chisano speaks about the African goals of unity of purpose, perseverance, awareness of identity, and becoming masters of own destiny. He acknowledges the continued oppression and marginalization, but talks about how African organizations are developing towards justice through new solutions. A member of the Pan Africanist Movement speaks about Kwame Nkrumah, leader of Ghana, and his vision of a united Africa.
Event celebrating 40 years of African Independence Event celebrating 40 years of African Independence
Call Number: AFR 043Format: Cass A & BProducers: WBAIProgram: WBAI Special Program: Southern Africa - Africa at 40Collection: African liberation movements
Continuation of the “Africa at 40” Program. An event celebrating 40 years of African independence. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Sam Nujoma of Namibia speak about Ghana’s 1957 independence from white imperialist colonialism and the formation of the OAU (Organization of African Unity), spurring the drive for unity among all African nations. President Joachim Chisano of Mozambique talks about how the fight for independence was tough, but is not over because while classical colonialism is over, African nations have not realized true independence. Africa lacks economic and social freedom, but they can be accomplished through countries uniting in their struggles.
Colonialism’s influence on African religion Colonialism’s influence on African religion
Call Number: AFR 065Format: Cass A & BCollection: Africa- General Resources
Recorded off mic. Begins abruptly with a speech by a man about old African religions and folk tales. He speaks about traditional African religions, animism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. “Where the African went wrong in the history of the world was when he adopted foreign gods or foreign interpretation of his gods”. One of the ways Africa was oppressed and colonized was through religious colonization. He talks about how elements of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can be found in Africa’s own religions, but says that African religions should not be interpreted by outsiders. He describes the history of foreign influence on African religion and slave trade. Next, a woman speaks about Baptists, her own faith, and she speaks about literature originating out of Egypt. Lastly, continuing to Side B, another man speaks about Mozambique.