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

Alejandrina Torres on Puerto Rican Independence Alejandrina Torres on Puerto Rican Independence
Format: mp3Collection: Puerto Rico
Alejandrina Torres speaks about Puerto Rican independence and US repression of their national liberation struggle. Taken from CD 800.
Lolita Lebron on Puerto Rican Independence Lolita Lebron on Puerto Rican Independence
Format: mp3Collection: Puerto Rico
A clip taken from a conversation between Puerto Rican independista Lolita Lebron and interviewer Barbara Lubinski. At the time, Lolita was being held in Alderson Federal Prison for her role in the 1954 Attack on Congress. Taken from CD 884.
Lolita Lebron Lolita Lebron
Collection: Puerto Rico
Lolita Lebron on Puerto Rican independence speaks in San Francisco, date unknown. Subjects include abortion, forced sterlization of Puerto Rican women, and genocide. Draws from her own experience as a political prisoner and discusses their feelings of abandonment, isolation and obscurity. Makes parallels between Vietnam's victory over the US (in which the American people were complicit) and Puerto Rico's own liberation.
Radio report of Lolita's arrest in 1954, including her statement Radio report of Lolita's arrest in 1954, including her statement
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: La Lucha Continua: a talking mural in San Francisco
Interview with Lebron after her arrest for the shooting of US Congressman Alvin Bentley in 1954.
Interview with Susan Rosenberg and Josefina Rodriguez Interview with Susan Rosenberg and Josefina Rodriguez
Call Number: CD 799Format: CDProducers: Sally O’Brian, Terry BissonCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Interview with Susan Rosenberg, an American revolutionary anti-imperialist female political prisoner, about Lexington prison. Susan Rosenberg describes the focus of Lexington as “the psychological element of incarceration to disintegrate the personality”. She speaks about the terribly harsh and restrictive conditions of Lexington, as well as the psychological impact of the prison. Rosenberg speaks about how every prisoner is there for political reasons, as the control unit is not based on disciplinary measures, but on classification who and what the prisoners are associated with. Susan Rosenberg’s attorney, Michael Schubert, speaks about the isolation and solitary confinement the Lexington prisoners experience, and how such isolation is aimed at keeping the prisoners isolated from politics.
Florence Prison and the Fight to Free Oscar Lopez Florence Prison and the Fight to Free Oscar Lopez
Date: 1/20/1995Call Number: JG/ 075AFormat: Cass AProducers: Judy GerberProgram: A Defiant HeartCollection: Programs produced by Judy Gerber and Laurie Simms
Lugo Lopez and Alejandro Molina of the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War (Chicago) protesting the imprisonment of Oscar Lopez, sentenced to 75+ years on seditious conspiracy charges for his political work in Puerto Rico.
Florence Prison and the Fight to Free Oscar Lopez Florence Prison and the Fight to Free Oscar Lopez
Date: 1/20/1995Call Number: CD 802Format: CDProducers: Judy GerberProgram: A Defiant HeartCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Lugo Lopez and Alejandro Molina of the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War (Chicago) protesting the imprisonment of Oscar Lopez, sentenced to 75+ years on seditious conspiracy charges for his political work in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rican nueva trova (?) music Puerto Rican nueva trova (?) music
Call Number: LA 071AFormat: Cass AProgram: KPFACollection: Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican music program on KPFA. 1970s/80s Nueva trova-ish. Fuzzy sound. Also on very end of LA 071 B.
Interview with Josefina Rodriguez Interview with Josefina Rodriguez
Call Number: LA 071BFormat: Cass BProgram: KPFACollection: Puerto Rico
15 minute Interview with Josefina Rodriguez as part of a longer KPFA radio show. Rodriguez talks about her role as the International Representative for the Movimiento de Liberacion Nacional, her daughters (political prisoners) Alicia and Ida Luz Rodriguez, their political development, the struggle for independence, the charge of seditious conspiracy, the Lexington Pennintentiary control unit, etc.. At end, Side B cuts to music from side A.
Lexington Prison Interviews (1987) Lexington Prison Interviews (1987)
Date: 5/1/1987Call Number: PM 184AFormat: Cass AProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Lexington Control Unit for Women
Political prisoners Alejandrina Torres, Silvia Baraldini, and Susan Rosenberg describe their living conditions at the control unit of the federal women’s prison in Lexington which opened in 1986: radical isolation, constant surveillance, sensory deprivation, no personal property, limited visits, etc. Defined by the government as the most dangerous women in prison for their political activities in various anti-war and liberation movements, Torres, Baraldini, and Rosenberg have been subjected to a sophisticated kind of psychological torture. According to them they have been used as examples of the consequences to be expected if one challenges the hegemony of US power. The interviews stress the importance of public pressure to have the unit closed.