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

Paul Robeson, Marine Cooks & Stewards Paul Robeson, Marine Cooks & Stewards
Date: 5/31/1951Call Number: PR 051Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProgram: Paul Robeson, Marine Cooks & Stewards Collection: Paul Robeson recordings
Paul Robeson sings and speaks at the annual convention of the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union in San Francisco, at Macedonia Baptist Church. Political and folk songs : Joe Hill, Water Boy, Scandalize My name, No More Auction Block, Los Cuatro Generales (The Four Insurgent Generals), The Four Rivers, Old Man River. Same as CD 286, Track 1
Paul Robeson Sings at Marine Cooks & Stewards Union Paul Robeson Sings at Marine Cooks & Stewards Union
Date: 5/1/1951Call Number: PR 069Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Paul Robeson speaks at Marine Cooks and Stuards Union meeting in San Francisco, May 1, 1951; tape begins in mid-sentence. Also, 7 songs. Same as CD 322, Track 1
Paul Robeson: Speech at Marine Cooks & Stewards Union Convention, at Macedonia Baptist Church, San Francisco Paul Robeson: Speech at Marine Cooks & Stewards Union Convention, at Macedonia Baptist Church, San Francisco
Date: 5/3/1951Call Number: PR 085Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Sidney RogerCollection: Paul Robeson recordings
Paul Robeson’s Speech at the Marine Cooks & Stewards Union Convention, at Macedonia Baptist Church, San Francisco, May 3, 1951. At this time, concert halls were closed to him, and he had to speak and sing in churches, union halls and private homes. Here, he outlines his views of ciil rights, the role of trade unions, peace, freedom, the universality of the struggle against oppression and colonialism. Same as CD 379, Track 1
Paul Robeson: Speech at Marine Cooks & Stewards Union Convention, at Macedonia Baptist Church, San Francisco Paul Robeson: Speech at Marine Cooks & Stewards Union Convention, at Macedonia Baptist Church, San Francisco
Date: 5/3/1951Call Number: CD 379Format: CDProducers: Sidney RogerCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Paul Robeson’s Speech at tha Marine Cooks & Stewards Union Convention, at Macedonia Baptist Church, San Francisco, May 3, 1951. At this time, concert halls were closed to him, and he had to speak and sing in churches, union halls, and private homes. Here, he outlines his views of civil rights, the role of trade unions, peace, freedom, the universality of the struggle against oppression and colonialism. Same as PR 085 Readings from Here I Stand by Karl Marx Yeargans, CD 379, Tracks 2-11. Same as PR 087