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

Audio Clips of Narration Audio Clips of Narration
Recording of Saron Warr narrating for film.
Audio Clips of Narration Audio Clips of Narration
Recording of Saron Warr narrating for film. All 12 segments edited.
Audio Clips of Narration Audio Clips of Narration
Recording of Saron Warr narrating for film. All 12 segments edited.
Interviews with Beverly Henry and YaVonne Anderson Interviews with Beverly Henry and YaVonne Anderson
Fellow inmates at Valley State Prison, Beverly Henry and YaVonne Anderson, speak about Charisse Shumate.
Interviews with Judy Resse and Mary Shields Interviews with Judy Resse and Mary Shields
Fellow inmates at Valley State Prison, Judy Resse and Mary Shields, speak about Charisse Shumate.
Footage of the California Institution for Women Footage of the California Institution for Women
Exterior footage of CIW.
Interview with Ellen Barry Interview with Ellen Barry
Ellen Barry is interviewed about Charisse Shumate and the California prison system, specifically pertaining to the treatment of women prisoners.
Photographs with Charisse Shumate and Cynthia Photographs with Charisse Shumate and Cynthia
Footage of a few photographs of Charisse with fellow inmates/friends.
Charisse Shumate: Fighting for Our Lives - Final Master Charisse Shumate: Fighting for Our Lives - Final Master
Date: 10/28/2004Call Number: SHU 056Format: DV CamProducers: Claude MarksCollection: Materials shot and gathered for the making of “Charisse Shumate: Fighting for our Lives”
Final master of film.