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

Dhoruba Bin Wahad Program Dhoruba Bin Wahad Program
Date: 5/19/1990Call Number: PM 247Format: CassetteCollection: Dhoruba Bin Wahad
Event celebrating the freedom of former political prisoner Dhoruba Bin Wahad. Dhoruba was unjustly imprisoned 19 years and was freed after disclosure of suppressed evidence and the FBI Cointelpro program. Members of the community welcome Dhoruba with solidarity statements and applause. According to Dhoruba, Black America is in need of a new revolution based on an analysis of facts, courage, and principles and the support of other political prisoners. Discussion of the concept of power as "the ability to define phenomena, and make it act in a desired fashion," and how this concept is applied to the government's racist agenda and the potential power of Black people. Dhoruba states that the economy, the war on drugs, and private prison systems are industries deliberately created to oppress people of color. Dhoruba sets a goal of organizing international attention and action to free U.S. political prisoners, specifically liberating Geronimo Pratt.
Racism and the War on Drugs Racism and the War on Drugs
Date: 1/1/1996Call Number: CD 793Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
In a panel discussion, several speakers express their views about how racism and the war on drugs are connected. Racism is found in every step of the criminal justice law enforcement process. Blacks and Hispanics are unfairly targeted in the drug war. The speakers advocate that federal law enforcement change, and that mandatory minimums, crack laws, and guideline sentences be revised.
CEML Conference Workshop #2: The War on Drugs and the Attack on Third World Communities CEML Conference Workshop #2: The War on Drugs and the Attack on Third World Communities
Date: 11/4/1989Call Number: V 619Format: VHSProducers: CEMLCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
CEML Moderator Nancy Kurshan, presenter Professor Robert Starks. Panelists explore the historical roots of the war on drugs in an international context. Funding, technology and policy have all been used by criminal justice system and the war on drugs to expand attacks on Third World communities in a variety of spaces. Q and A follows presentations.
Midwest Regional Hearing: Control units, Prisons & Political Prisoners Midwest Regional Hearing: Control units, Prisons & Political Prisoners
Format: PamphletCollection: Control Units
Advertising the event Control Units, Prisons and Political Prisoners