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

Angela Davis: The Prison Industrial Complex Angela Davis: The Prison Industrial Complex
Date: 5/5/1997Call Number: CD 062Format: CDProducers: David BarsamianCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Angela Davis lecture, The Prison Industrial Complex, traces how prisons are becoming an integral part of the US economy, at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, May 5, 1997.
Protest at Soledad Protest at Soledad
Call Number: PM 190Format: Cass A & BProducers: Barbara LubinskiCollection: Soledad Brothers
Tape made by Barbara Lubinski of Soledad Prison protest and speeches. Middle of side 1 has interviews about prison administration reactions to prisoner requests for education and culture classes and subsequent treatment of prisoners and repressive prison conditions. Side 2 is an unidentified former political prisoner speaking in CA about organizing. Tape stops in the middle of Side 2.
Privatization of Prisons Privatization of Prisons
Date: 1/8/1997Call Number: PM 323Format: Cass A & BProducers: National Public Radio (NPR)Program: Talk of the Nation with Ray SuarezCollection: Private Prisons
On this episode of Talk of the Nation with Ray Suarez, guests Joseph Johnson, Chairman and CEO of the National Corrections and Rehabilitation Corporation, and Dr. Charles Logan, Criminologist at University of Connecticut and author of "Private Prisons, Pros & Cons", discuss the pros, cons, meanings and symbolism of private prison growth. Callers frequently inquire about the profit motive of private prisons, which Johnson denies exists nor will ever influence the mission to provide the best service possible to inmates. Logan makes points such as "the demand for prisons is driven by crime, not by prison building" and "the private sector does not respond to, nor create, artificial demand."
Lockdown USA Lockdown USA
Call Number: V 360Format: VHSProgram: Deep Dish TVCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Investigates how the media portrays the prisons and prisoners and discusses why so many people of color are locked up.
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.
The True Purpose of Imprisonment The True Purpose of Imprisonment
Date: 9/21/1991Call Number: PM 421Format: Cass A & BCollection: Political Prisoner Periodicals
Jane Henderson on the Bush system of imprisonment and its demographics, the racist application of the death penalty, and the profit chain of the US Prison Industrial Complex. Ricardo Romero on border patrol, the parasitic system of power, the effect of drugs on struggle and the migration towards fascism. Al-Jundi speaks on control units and sensory deprivation.
The True Purpose of Imprisonment The True Purpose of Imprisonment
Date: 9/21/1991Call Number: CD 812Format: Cass A & BCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Jane Henderson on the Bush system of imprisonment and its demographics, the racist application of the death penalty, and the profit chain of the US Prison Industrial Complex. Ricardo Romero on border patrol, the parasitic system of power, the effect of drugs on struggle and the migration towards fascism. Al-Jundi speaks on control units and sensory deprivation.
The True Purpose of Imprisonment The True Purpose of Imprisonment
Date: 9/21/1991Call Number: PM 422Format: Cass A & BCollection: Political Prisoner Periodicals
Jane Henderson on the Bush system of imprisonment and its demographics, the racist application of the death penalty, and the profit chain of the US Prison Industrial Complex. Ricardo Romero on border patrol, the parasitic system of power, the effect of drugs on struggle and the migration towards fascism. Al-Jundi speaks on control units and sensory deprivation. Copy of PM 421
Marion Program Panel 1 Marion Program Panel 1
Date: 10/1/1988Call Number: CD 821Format: CDProducers: Committee to End the Marion LockdownCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Introduction by Nancy Kurshan and preliminary comments by Jose Lopez. Lecture by Bruce Wright, judge, scholar, poet and activist for social justice. Using his own experience as a Black man, he describes the history of US racism and the criminal justice system. Program on the life and work of Assata Shakur, and her influence on the work and life of fellow activists. Also speakers on the Puerto Rican liberation movement.