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 We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings.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

May 19th Communist Organization

The May 19th Communist Organization was based in New York City and derived its name from the birth-date of Ho Chi Minh and El Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X). Their principle task was providing both political and material support for wars of national liberation, outside and within the borders of the US.

The organization operated under the belief that the principal contradiction in the world was between national liberation struggles and US led imperialism. Members were committed to the principles of Third World leadership, armed struggle as a fundamental tool among oppressed peoples waging liberation struggles, and women's liberation being an integral part of the fight against imperialism. 

Subcollections

  • Moncada Library
    Moncada Library
    The Moncada Library was an anti-imperialist community organizing center and lending library in Park Slope, New York. It was a project of the May 19th Communist Organization.

Documents

Puerto Rican Prisoners of War: Conscience of Their Nation in Arms Puerto Rican Prisoners of War: Conscience of Their Nation in Arms
Publisher: The Moncada Library, New Movement in Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence & SocialismVolume Number: 14-MarFormat: FlyerCollection: Moncada Library
Information about the Puerto Rican liberation movement and Puerto Rican POWs.