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

Paul Robeson Jr. Interview Paul Robeson Jr. Interview
Date: 1/1/1981Call Number: PR 039Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Lena VerinCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Interview with Paul Robeson Jr about his efforts to bring his father’s life and legacy to public attention, through the establishment, in 1973, of the Paul Robeson Archives, subsequently donated to the Moreland Spingarn Collection at Howard University and the production of a 29-minute video documentary on Robeson narrated by Sidney Poitier. (1981) Interview is interspersed with a few Robeson songs, excerpts from Robeson speaking about Negro music, Chinese and East African folk musis and 11th century Czechoslovakian chorales. Robeson’s belief that a famous artist has a responsibility to speak out against injustice and for peace and about his belief in Socialism. Also, two excerpts from Othello. Same as CD 273, Track 1
Paul Robeson Centennial Tribute, Part 3 Paul Robeson Centennial Tribute, Part 3
Date: 1/1/1998Call Number: CD 212Format: CDProducers: Eugene GordonCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Testimony before HUAC: Robeson’s defiant testimony at the House Un-American Activities Committee. Robeson sings Old Man River, Go Down Moses and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
HUAC actuality HUAC actuality
Call Number: KP 171BFormat: Cass BCollection: General materials
Reports on HUAC hearings in San Francisco by Elsa Knight Thompson
Sounds of Protest Sounds of Protest
Date: 5/13/1960Call Number: CD 726Format: CDProducers: Gerald Gray, George handCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Recordings and analysis of the student protests at the hearings of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in San Francisco.
Operation Correction Operation Correction
Date: 1/1/1961Call Number: V 667Format: DVDProducers: ACLUCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
In May 1960, students and progressive activists opposed to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) demonstrated when HUAC held hearings in San Francisco's City Hall. San Francisco police turned firehoses on the demonstrators, washing them down the main staircase of City Hall, and the resultant publicity did much to engender the social consciousness of the 1960s. HUAC sympathizers produced a film, "Operation Abolition," condemning the demonstrators as Communist-inspired activists. The ACLU produced this film as a rejoinder to and critique of "Operation Abolition," incorporating many of its sequences and disputing its distortions.