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.

Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials

Documents

Tongues Untied Tongues Untied
Date: 7/16/1991Call Number: V 487Format: VHSProducers: Marlon RiggsCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Film by Marlon Riggs that recounts his life history, intermixed with Essex Hemphill’s poetry, a visit to the Institute of Snap!thology, and a celebration of black men loving black men as a revolutionary act.
Rodney King Demonstration and Dyke Zap National Coming Out Day Rodney King Demonstration and Dyke Zap National Coming Out Day
Date: 4/17/1993Call Number: V 568Format: Hi-8Producers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Documents the heavy police presence at a demonstration in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco against the Rodney King verdict. dyke zap at Fruitvale BART station by Women Against Imperialism who agitate and raise awareness about lesbian parenting in response to high profile cases across US of lesbian parents losing custody of their children.
Lesbian Moms and National Coming Out Day Lesbian Moms and National Coming Out Day
Date: 10/11/1993Call Number: V 569Format: Hi-8Producers: Lisa RudmanCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Lesbian mothers from Women Against Imperialism leaflet Oakland Bart stations to raise awareness of high profile court cases that have deemed lesbians as unfit parents resulting in lost custody of children. They stress that homophobia is the problem not lesbian parents.