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

The Jena 6 The Jena 6
Date: 1/1/2008Call Number: V 281Format: DVDProducers: Big NoiseCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Jena, LA - In a small town in Louisiana, six families are fighting for their sons' lives. Two nooses are left as a warning to black students trying to integrate their playground, fights break out across town, a white man pulls a shotgun on black students, someone burns down most of the school, the DA puts six black students on trial for attempted murder, and the quiet town of Jena becomes the site of the largest civil rights demonstration in the South since the 1960s. The Jena 6 is the story of hidden racial inequality and violence becoming visible. It is a powerful symbol for, and example of, how racial justice works in America where the lynching noose has been replaced by the DA's pen. Narrated by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Black August Black August
Date: 1/1/2008Call Number: V 282Format: DVDProducers: T Cinque SampsonCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
The story of Black Panther George Jackson's life through to his murder in 1971 at the hands of San Quentin Prison guards. This is dramatized & fictionalized.
Police Brutality and Corruption Police Brutality and Corruption
Date: 1/1/2008Call Number: PM 318Format: Cass A & BProducers: Prison Activist Resource CenterProgram: On The OutsideCollection: Political Prisoner Periodicals
Michael Novick of People Against Racial Terror speaks about police brutality and corruption, Arun Rasiah of the American Friends Service Committee speaks about prisoner support. Information is provided about conditions in local prisons.
Chicago 10 Chicago 10
Date: 7/1/2008Call Number: CD 610Format: DVDProducers: Brett MorganCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Combining bold original animation with extraordinary archival footage, explores the buildup to and unraveling of the Chicago Conspiracy Trial. The film brings viewers inside the courtroom to experience firsthand the drama, legal wrangling and raucous political theater. During the infamous 1968 Democratic national convention, antiwar protesters - denied permits to march and blocked from the political process - fought for their right to be heard. Confronted by Mayor Richard Daley's political machine, backed up by billy clubs and the stinging fog of tear gas, bloody riots splashed nightly on live television. Eight of the most vocal activists were charged and brought to trial in a courtroom circus that pitted activism against the establishment.
American Gangster - J Edgar Hoover American Gangster - J Edgar Hoover
Date: 11/1/2008Call Number: CD 636Format: DVDProducers: BETProgram: American GangsterCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Examines the most notorious government agent in US history, J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI and responsible for the COINTELPRO program directed at destroying progressive social movements especially the Black Panther Party.
Unlock the Box Unlock the Box
Date: 1/1/2008Call Number: CD 734Format: DVDProducers: Maoist InternationalCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
The struggle to put an end to long-term isolation in u.$. prisons that has been waged by prisoners and activists for decades. Starting from the premise that long-term isolation is a form of torture that serves no purpose except the state's oppressive aims at social control, Unlock the Box documents the many forms of struggle that this movement has taken over the years.