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, specifcally AND/+, NOT/-, and OR operators. 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.
Welcome to the Freedom Archives' Digital Search Engine.The Freedom Archives contains over 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings which date from the late-1960s to the mid-90s and chronicle the progressive history of the Bay Area, the United States, and international movements. We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings. Our collection includes weekly news, poetry, music programs; in-depth interviews and reports on social and cultural issues; numerous voices from behind prison walls; diverse activists; and pamphlets, journals and other materials from many radical organizations and movements.

Search Results

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution [DVD] The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution [DVD]
Date: 2/16/2016Call Number: V 816Format: DVDProducers: Stanley Nelson, Laurens GrantCollection: Videos – camera originals and reference materials
Change was coming to America and the fault lines were no longer ignorable — cities were burning, Vietnam was exploding, and disputes raged over equality and civil rights. A new revolutionary culture was emerging and it sought to drastically transform the system. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense would, for a short time, put itself at the vanguard of that change.
William Kuntsler Book Tour William Kuntsler Book Tour
Year: 1994Call Number: V 857Format: VHSCollection: Videos – camera originals and reference materials
William Kunstler speaking in 1994 on book tour after publication of his autobiography (My Life as a Radical Lawyer, 1994). He summarizes background on how book evolved and comments on a number of his clients and cases, including: an appeal in the Jack Ruby case, the Chicago conspiracy trial (amusing story about cannabis package in the courtroom), the chaining and gagging of Bobby Seale, the Ohio 7, Leonard Peltier/Wounded Knee, the Birmingham 6 civil rights/freedom riders cases, and others. Kunstler also has a book of poetry coming next month—Allen Ginsberg says the poetry is not too good but he likes it. Comments on the OJ Simpson case (not yet decided at this time) and the racial polarization it represents. Talks about his friendship with Marlon Brando. Also Kunstler mentions his own acting roles, as in Law and Order and several films. He takes questions. What does he hope is the legacy? Hopes that young lawyers will decide that their real job is to represent people who are not going to take things lying down. Of his own life, he says he was always anti-establishment, “a terrible kid”… father said he’d end up in prison. Discusses the idealism of the “1960s.” Also speaks about Kent State and Vietnam. Says that there is no single social advancement that has not come from mass upsurge. Says, “la luta continua”—in every country. Says that activists should avoid “rhetoric” to better communicate with masses of people. Also intersperses comments on the positive attributes of the 1960s/70s “counterculture,” and how he attended Woodstock with Abbie Hoffman and went back with Richie Havens for the 15th anniversary.