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 We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings.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.

White Anti-Imperialist Prisoners

This collection contains materials from people imprisoned for their work in anti-imperialist organizations and political movements.

Subcollections

  • David Gilbert
    David Gilbert
    David Gilbert was a North American political prisoner captured in 1981 at Nyack, NY during an attempted expropriation by a unit of the Black Liberation Army. He was released in 2021 and remains dedicated to human liberation.
  • Dr. Alan Berkman
    Dr. Alan Berkman
    Alan Berkman (1945-2009) was an American doctor and activist in the Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Underground. Released after 8 years in prison for armed robbery and explosives possession, Berkman worked on homelessness and AIDS.
  • Ed Mead
    Ed Mead
    Ed Mead is a former political prisoner who was arrested for his participation in George Jackson Brigade actions during the 70s. He spent 18 years in prison and while inside helped found Men Against Sexism which stopped prisoner-on-prisoner rape.
  • LA Five
    LA Five
    The LA Five were five anti-imperialists who were arrested in Los Angeles in 1977, charged with intending to bomb the office of right wing California Sen. John Briggs. The arrests were the result of years of government infiltration and surveillance.
  • Marilyn Buck
    Marilyn Buck
    Marilyn Buck was imprisoned for 25 years in the united states for her anti-imperialist actions carried out in support of national liberation, women's liberation, social and economic justice. She was released in July 2010 and died a couple of weeks later.
  • Ohio 7
    Ohio 7
    The Ohio 7 were members of the The United Freedom Front (UFF), a small North American clandestine organization active in the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1975 and 1984 the UFF carried out numerous armed actions.
  • Silvia Baraldini
    Silvia Baraldini
    Silvia Baraldini is an Italian Nationalist most known for her work as a White Anti-Imperialist.
  • Resistance Conspiracy
    Resistance Conspiracy
    The Resistance Conspiracy case was a political prosecution starting in 1985 in which seven anti-imperialist activists were charged with targeted bombings from 1983-1985.
  • Irish Prisoners
    Irish Prisoners
    This collection contains materials from the Irish struggle for self-determination. Specific focuses of the collection include information on the Irish Republican Army, prison resistance, and international solidarity campaigns.
  • Black Flag
    Black Flag
    The periodical Black Flag centers on anarchist news, important figures, and developments in Europe and the Western world.

Documents

Marilyn Buck - a Tribute [Video Clip] Marilyn Buck - a Tribute [Video Clip]
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesFormat: Video ClipCollection: Marilyn Buck
Marilyn talks about how she grew into her won as a revolutionary, her experience in the anti-Vietnam and Black Liberation movements. She speaks to the revolutionary state where everyone has the right to their own culture, land, and means of production, and how the liberation of women is intrinsically tied to the liberation of all nations.
David Gilbert – A Lifetime of Struggle David Gilbert – A Lifetime of Struggle
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesDate: 3/2002Format: Video ClipProducers: Lisa Rudman, Claude MarksCollection: David Gilbert
This is a rare opportunity to go behind prison walls for a discussion with David Gilbert, a lifelong anti-imperialist activist and former member of the Weather Underground Organization. David is now serving a life sentence in prison for activities in support of the Black Liberation Movement. He explains why he joined the movement, what led him to go underground, and frankly discusses the strengths and errors of the movement and the WUO. This 30-minute video was edited in March 2002 by Claude Marks and Lisa Rudman, and is based on an interview done in July of 1998 at Great Meadows Prison, Comstock, New York by Sam Green and Bill Siegel. Camera: Federico Salsano.