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

Interview of workers organizing against Capwell's Department Store. Interview of workers organizing against Capwell's Department Store.
Date: 11/2/1976Call Number: KP 216Format: Cass A & BCollection: General materials
Rosalie Jones, Alice Stanford, and George Edward Junior speak of gaining community support for their lawsuit against Capwell's Department Store and The Culinary Union, Local 28. After experiencing racism and sexism, the two women went to their union for support but were denied. Managers and union representatives began threatening the two women and their families to suppress the development of their suit.
Report on the First Constitutional Convention of the United Farm Workers Report on the First Constitutional Convention of the United Farm Workers
Call Number: CAA 043Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Arts, literature and poetry – a program series produced by Comunicacion Aztlan
Jose Maria Lopez on day one of the First Constitutional Convention of the United Farm Workers at the Falon Arena. Includes interviews with various delegates from the conference.
Jesse Jackson @ AFL-CIO Jesse Jackson @ AFL-CIO
Date: 1/1/1992Call Number: CV 020Format: CassetteCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Jesse Jackson delivers a speech at an AFL-CIO meeting calling for a strong and independent labor movement to create a climate for leaders to enact change.
"Black Friday" Twentieth Anniversary May 13, 1980 "Black Friday" Twentieth Anniversary May 13, 1980
Date: 5/13/1980Call Number: KP 281AFormat: Cass AProducers: National Public RadioCollection: General materials
Short news report about the May 13, 1960 "Black Friday" protest of hearings from the House on Un-American Activities Committee that sought out alleged Communist activities. Speakers include author William Mandell and radio documentary producer Elsa Kight Thompson.
Prisoner Rights Union "Storming the Bastille" Prisoner Rights Union "Storming the Bastille"
Date: 7/15/1993Call Number: CV 039Format: Cass A & BProducers: KPFACollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Recording of the Prisoners Rights Union conference held at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Speakers include: Morrie Camhi, author/photographer of "Prison Experience"; Luis Talamantez, poet and founder of the Pelican Bay Prison Project; and Patrick Hooty Croy, a death row inmate.
AFL-CIO Convention AFL-CIO Convention
Date: 10/6/1993Call Number: CV 055Format: Cass A & BCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Speeches and interviews recorded at an AFL-CIO convention in San Francisco, California on October 6, 1993. Interviews in Spanish with Yolanda Navarro from Watsonville, CA, and Linda Chavez-Thompson from San Antonio, TX about NAFTA, plant closures, need for more democratic and stronger unions, labor violence in Mexican maquiladoras. Intermittent speeches in English about NAFTA, followed by speech and interview with Janet Reno discussing education, labor and community relations, child care, and immigration.
Fuerza Unida Boycotts Levis Fuerza Unida Boycotts Levis
Call Number: CV 060AFormat: Cass AProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Workers demand Levis to stop sending jobs overseas, monetary compensation from Levis for loss of jobs, and to meet Levis' Chief Executive director Bob Haus.
Margarita Martinez - Watsonville Canning Strike Margarita Martinez - Watsonville Canning Strike
Call Number: CV 068AFormat: Cass ACollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Chuy Varela interviews striking frozen food cannery worker Margarita Martinez 11 months into Watsonville Canning Strike (probably in 1986). They discuss the difficulty of supporting a family while on strike, the success of the strike's solidarity, and future plans of the workers.
Watsonville Cannery Interviews Watsonville Cannery Interviews
Call Number: CV 069AFormat: Cass ACollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Interiews by Chuy Varela about the decertification election for the Watsonville Canning Strike in 1986. Varela interviews strike leader Gloria Betancourt and Teamsters Local 912 Secretary Treasurer Sergio Lopez about the importance of the election, the support for the strike, and the participation of the Teamsters International in the boycott of the plant's products.
One Year Commemoration of the Watsonville Strike One Year Commemoration of the Watsonville Strike
Call Number: CV 070Format: Cass A & BProgram: Women's MagazineCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Ending of retrospective on Lydia Mendoza leads into radio program about the Watsonville Canning Strike and the role of Chicana workers in the success and solidarity of the strike. Program includes interviews of workers, Secretary Treasurer of Teamsters Local 912 Sergio Lopez, strike leader Gloria Betancourt. Includes speeches by Gloria Betancourt at Mecha in Berkeley, and Jesse Jackson in Watsonville.