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.
Women in Prison Women in Prison
Call Number: PM 210Format: Cass A & BCollection: Prisons - Women
Intervew of Women in Prison, Dublin, CA 1995. Political prisoners Dylcia Pagan, Linda Evans, Ida Robinson, and Marilyn Buck are asked to speak about themselves and why they are in prison. The women also discuss the GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs), NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), the lack of wages and benefits for the poor and oppressed, and the wrongs of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Ida Robinson speaks about families of ethnic minorities, and Marilyn Buck speaks about how political prisoners aren’t violent, they are just casualties during the conflict. The women discuss the state of the poor white woman, how is marginalized because no one is fighting for her and she has no representation.
Discussion with DHoruba Bin Wahad Discussion with DHoruba Bin Wahad
Date: 5/20/1990Call Number: PM 248Format: CassetteCollection: Dhoruba Bin Wahad
Discussion group addressing the state of the black revolution, featuring Dhoruba Bin Wahad. Issues include cross cultural hostility, Black revolutionaries vs. reactionary activists, the state of the Black Muslim community, the importance of political prisoner, and AIDS in the community and prison.
Ezra Davis - You Can't Jail the Spirit: Brainstorm Ezra Davis - You Can't Jail the Spirit: Brainstorm
Call Number: PM 338Format: Cass A & BProducers: KPFAProgram: Political PrisonersCollection: Political Prisoner Periodicals
Prisoner Ezra Davis in the California Medical Facility at Vacaville discusses conditions. Also the first of 13 episodes of Brainstorm from "You Can't Jail the Spirit."