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 We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings.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

Oakland Induction Center

During the Vietnam War young male draftees would arrive at the Oakland Induction Center on Clay Street for processing and  physical exams. Throughout this period, anti-war activists would conduct protests outside the Induction Center. Much of our collection centers on street reporting from Colin Edwards during Stop the Draft Week 1967. In California, Stop the Draft Week organizers led 3000 marchers to the Oakland Induction Center on October 16, 1967. When marchers refused police orders to leave, police attacked them with nightsticks, injuring 20. On the second day, demonstrators returned to the Induction Center, and this time 97 were arrested. On the third day, 10,000 protesters arrived, this time retreating in orderly fashion but also successfully blocking streets as they departed.This collection also includes coverage of the mutiny on the Coral Sea, anti-war demonstrations and speeches on the UC Berkeley campus, audio excerpts from a protest at Port Chicago and other anti-war content.

Documents

Marine Reaction at Port Chicago Protests [mp3] Marine Reaction at Port Chicago Protests [mp3]
Call Number: Format: mp3Collection: Oakland Induction Center
Audio excerpt of Marine reaction to anti-war protesters at Port Chicago.
Counter Protestors at Port Chicago [mp3] Counter Protestors at Port Chicago [mp3]
Call Number: Format: mp3Collection: Oakland Induction Center
Audio of counter-protesters at the Port Chicago military facility.
Berkeley Train Incident Actuality/Anti-Vietnam War appeals to Mexican Ship Berkeley Train Incident Actuality/Anti-Vietnam War appeals to Mexican Ship
Date: 9/5/1965Call Number: CE 897Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
The Vietnam Day Committee, a group of organizing activists bent on not only symbolically objecting to the war but also taking the direct action to disrupt the cogs of war, attempts to appeal to the crew of the El Maxicano ship, in Spanish. The protest not only was meant to call out the criminal and imperialist Vietnam War but also to speak against the criminal exploitation of foreign labor. The second piece of the reel deals with a summation of the sequence of protests against the Vietnam War held at the Berkeley campus against the back drop of a New McCarthy era looming on campus.
Send Off Rally for March to Moscow Send Off Rally for March to Moscow
Date: 11/30/1960Call Number: CE 894Format: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsProducers: Colin EdwardsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Send off rally for individuals embarking from San Francisco to Chicago on a peace walk which they will be stopping at every military instillation along the way. They will be carrying an alternative policy against the tensions which are being antagonized by both super-powers. They call for unilateral disarmament.
Protest At Port Chicago: Anatomy of a Non-Violent Demonstration and Police Reaction Protest At Port Chicago: Anatomy of a Non-Violent Demonstration and Police Reaction
Date: 10/21/1967Call Number: CE 934Format: 1/4 3 3/4 ipsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Contains audio of a protest at Port Chicago, Concord, CA, a large supplier of munitions to the imperialist campaign in Vietnam. Peaceful vigils that had occurred there previously had been attacked by locals opposed to anti-imperialist protests. The demonstration recorded on this tape was similarly set upon by police, and even reporters were accosted as law enforcement tried to stop them from reporting the situation. Details explicit tactics of brutality employed by cops against the demonstrators.
Protest At Port Chicago: Anatomy of a Non-Violent Demonstration and Police Reaction [CD] Protest At Port Chicago: Anatomy of a Non-Violent Demonstration and Police Reaction [CD]
Call Number: CD 965Format: CDCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Contains audio of a protest at Port Chicago, Concord, CA, a large supplier of munitions to the imperialist campaign in Vietnam. Peaceful vigils that had occurred there previously had been attacked by locals opposed to anti-imperialist protests. The demonstration recorded on this tape was similarly set upon by police, and even reporters were accosted as law enforcement tried to stop them from reporting the situation. Details explicit tactics of brutality employed by cops against the demonstrators.
Protest At Port Chicago: Anatomy of a Non-Violent Demonstration and Police Reaction [Dub] Protest At Port Chicago: Anatomy of a Non-Violent Demonstration and Police Reaction [Dub]
Date: 10/21/1967Call Number: CE 934AFormat: 1/4 7 1/2 ipsCollection: Oakland Induction Center
Contains audio of a protest at Port Chicago, Concord, CA, a large supplier of munitions to the imperialist campaign in Vietnam. Peaceful vigils that had occurred there previously had been attacked by locals opposed to anti-imperialist protests. The demonstration recorded on this tape was similarly set upon by police, and even reporters were accosted as law enforcement tried to stop them from reporting the situation. Details explicit tactics of brutality employed by cops against the demonstrators.