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

Activism inside and outside of prison Activism inside and outside of prison
Date: 2/7/1992Call Number: PM 183Format: Cass A & BProducers: The Prison Radio ProjectProgram: You can’t jail the spiritCollection: Political Prisoner Periodicals
Last part of a 13 series program on prisons in the United States. The series explores the lives and experiences of political prisoners, POWs, and incarcerated activists. Prisons today, it argues, are the government’s response to societal problems such as unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and immigration. In this tape in particular Jude Tilman talks to different activists: Thelma Clark, Judy Greenspan, Muhjah Shakir, and Michael Snedecker.
Medical Neglect Medical Neglect
Date: 1/1/1995Call Number: PM 302Format: Cass A & BProducers: Prison Activist Resource CenterProgram: Prison Activist RadioCollection: Medical Care In Prison
Prison Activist Radio discuss the battle for medical care and healthcare rights for prisoners. Judy Greenspan, director of HIV/AIDS in Prison Project and member of California Coalition for Women Prisoners, speaks about the lack of women's healthcare in prisons, the serious medical conditions that men and women prisoners enter the system with, and the hostility of doctors, officials, and guards towards prisoners. She also discusses prisoner-activist Joanne Walker and the effective campaign for HIV/AIDS care and medical rights. Jean Stewart, from the Disabled Prisoner's Justice Fund and ADAPT discusses the abuses suffered by prisoners with disabilities. She also discusses health care issues, including the Armstrong and Shumate cases. Stewart states that the biggest problem with medical justice is the public's ignorance of people with disabilites.
On the Outside - Release of Geronimo On the Outside - Release of Geronimo
Date: 6/1/1997Call Number: PM 381Format: CassetteProducers: Prison Activist RadioProgram: On the OutsideCollection: Geronimo Pratt
Michael Novick on the release of Geronimo Pratt, report from the California Coalition of Women Prisoners, and interview with Big Black on Attica prisoner defense.
Prison Activist Radio- Medical Neglect, Control Units, Women in Prison Prison Activist Radio- Medical Neglect, Control Units, Women in Prison
Date: 10/21/1996Call Number: CD 789Format: CDProducers: Prison Activist Resource Center PARCProgram: Prison Activist RadioCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
News about the prison industrial complex and prisoners. Judy Greenspan, director of HIV/AIDS in Prison Project, about compassionate release and women with AIDS. Also Catherine Campbell, an attorney with California Prison Focus, discusses the culture of violence at prisons, verbal provocations by the guards, mandates to confine members of rival gangs in same yard. Jean Stewart from the Disabled Prisoners' Justice Fund discusses the Armstrong case and the growing, neglected population of disabled prisoners and its causes. Karen Shain from Legal Services for Prisoners with Children speaks about women in prison and the class action law suits that are filed for work release, prenatal care, mother and infant programs, HIV. Herman Bell of the New York Three and former member of the Black Panther Party, discusses the need for support of political prisoners.
San Francisco #1 San Francisco #1
Call Number: SHU 026Format: DV CamCollection: Materials shot and gathered for the making of “Charisse Shumate: Fighting for our Lives”
Interview with Ellen Barry/Interview with Judy Greenspan