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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.
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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

Robert F Williams Interview with Marc Schleifer - Part 2 Robert F Williams Interview with Marc Schleifer - Part 2
Date: 7/4/1962Call Number: RFW 033Format: CDProducers: Marc SchleiferCollection: Robert F. Williams!
We have no legal rights to reproduce or distribute this item! Pacifica Radio—Mark Schleifer Interview—Disk 2 Track 1 Events leading to Williams’ exile Talks about context in which Freedom Riders came to support their demands in Monroe and the role of non-violent protest in Monroe. He didn’t expect much of the Freedom Riders, because they sometimes made backroom deals and concessions with legislators. Freedom Riders were met with unparalleled aggression by white supremacists, and they were somewhat naïve (white activists who thought the law would be on their side because they were pacifists). The whites in Monroe smiled at them for the first couple days, but later their pickets started to be attacked and tensions grew. They shouldn’t have advertised their non-violent position, because it would invite violence. NAACP pickets weren’t messed with because the members were trained in self-defense. Track 2 (Freedom Riders cont.) There was a riot in reaction to the Freedom Rider picket. Cops were taking arms from Blacks and giving them to whites. The City sprayed the picket line with insecticide and passed an ordinance that said that the picketers had to be 15 ft. apart. The cops participated in mob violence against the Freedom Riders and Black Monroe supporters. Blacks coming from other places (church, etc.) were attacked. Freedom Riders and supporters were jailed without medical attention after beatings. Williams threatened an armed march on the jail if the didn’t get medical attention. They ended up getting it. After that, whites started passing by Williams’ house. Track 3 Account of incidents leading to them leaving Monroe. Track 4 Discusses indictments of Lowry, Crowder, Reese, Roy, Mallory.