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

Jane Spielman and Sylvia Baraldini on Zimbabwe liberation Jane Spielman and Sylvia Baraldini on Zimbabwe liberation
Call Number: AFR 013Format: Cass A & BCollection: May 19th Communist Organization
Jane Spielman of the May 19th Communist Organization welcomes the Material Aid Campaign for ZANU and the Women’s Organization against Genocide to New York. Discusses the recently liberated Zimbabwe, and how the OAU (Organization of African Unity) and ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) fought for independence and support for reconstruction. Sylvia Baraldini, National director of the May 19th Communist Organization, celebrates the victory of Zimbabwe liberation and free elections. She discusses the rebuilding of Zimbabwe as a socialist society.
Kwame Ture on the history of black student revolutionary organizations Kwame Ture on the history of black student revolutionary organizations
Date: 3/22/1994Call Number: AFR 051Format: Cass A & BProgram: Student Organizing from 1960 to 1994Collection: Kwame Ture
Kwame Ture speaks about the history of black student revolutionary protest organizations such as SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) and the BPP (Black Panther Party). He talks about the oppression of the capitalist system in disorganizing black organizations. He explains how Africans are used to having a hard life and constantly struggling for freedom. Struggle makes you stronger, and brings progress. Ture calls people to push black consciousness and to talk about both the oppressed and the oppressor, so as to avoid blaming the oppressed in the end. He also talks about how it is the capitalist system’s job to instill ideas of inferiority in African Americans, but he calls people to fight inferiority, and to increase their consciousness of African contributions to America. Ture talks about how Africa was the first continent to unite different countries under the OAU (Organization of African Unity). Lastly, he speaks about African’s high level of unity in action, but not in thought, because of the prevalence of ignorance of the value of organizing.
African Agenda: A Voice of Afro-American Opinion African Agenda: A Voice of Afro-American Opinion
Publisher: African AgendaYear: 1975Volume Number: Vol. 4-4 June-JulyFormat: PeriodicalCollection: Africa- General Resources
Articles include: Womens Liberation is Essential for the Revolution, Chile's Experience and problems of the class struggle, Scientific Socialism in Africa, Africa's Choice, After 477 Years of Struggle, more.
The Black Panther Black Community News Service The Black Panther Black Community News Service
Publisher: The Black Panther PartyYear: 1973Volume Number: Vol. 10-30 December 8Format: PeriodicalCollection: Black Panther Party Community News Service
Cover Story: You're #1 on Nixon's Energy Enemy List. Also Inside: Shiely Chisholm Attacked; Tiny Tots Band at Learning Center; Attica Defense Team Needs Funds; Reagan's Welfare Plan illegal; Atlanta Service Workers Picket Line; O.A.U. Urges Broader Oil boycott, Black Caucus Recognize Guinea-Bissau China, more.