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 We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings.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

Attica Prison Rebellion

On September 9, 1971, 1289 prisoners at Attica Penitentiary in New York, rose up, took 38 guards hostage, and seized D-Yard and D-Block. For four days the Black, Latino, Native American, and white prisoners formed a united front and took control of their own lives while trying to negotiate with Commissioner Russell Oswald in an effort to eliminate the inhuman, brutal conditions in the prison.Commissioner Oswald acknowledged the 28 demands made by the prisoners but refused to grant them amnesty. On the fifth day, September 13, 1971, the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller--who had refused to visit Attica and take part in negotiations--ordered an invasion that resulted in the murder of 43 men--prisoners and hostages--by the New York State Troopers.

While awaiting trial, prisoners involved in the rebellion were either sent to a different prison or remained at Attica and were brutally beaten and tortured by prison guards. 80 of the alleged leaders in the rebellion were held in 24 hour solitary confinement. After 15 months of investigating the rebellion and massacre, the Special Attica Grand Jury returned 37 sealed indictments against 60 Attica Brothers--46 of them Black, 8 White, 5 Latino, and 1 Native American. The indicted brothers were charged with alleged crimes committed during the rebellion. These 60 Attica Brothers faced over 1300 felony accusations and a combined 60,000 years imprisonment from racked up charges ranging from possession of a prison key to murder. No prison employees or officials of the state were indicted for their crimes on September 13, 1971.

This collection contains extensive audio resources from which our CD documentary The Attica Rebellion is derived. It also includes the video Attica is All of Us. The robust audio resources are complemented by paper documents focusing on the rebellion, its causes, and its aftermath. With recent additions to the collection, we are able to present the history of the Attica Rebellion through the perspectives the Attica Brothers, their families, and supporters. It now contains the narratives of the Attica Brothers in their attempt to seek truth and justice in the aftermath of the rebellion.



Documents

ATTICA: "We are men. We are not beasts and will not be driven as such" ATTICA: "We are men. We are not beasts and will not be driven as such"
Publisher: Pontiac Prisoners Support CoalitionFormat: FlyerCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
See the Movie "Attica" and learn about the Pontiac Rebellion.
Liberated Guardian Liberated Guardian
Publisher: Hard Rain, inc.Date: 2/1973Volume Number: FebruaryFormat: PeriodicalCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Includes articles on Attica and prison struggle.
San Quentin to Attica: The Sound Before the Fury San Quentin to Attica: The Sound Before the Fury
Publisher: National Lawyers Guild: New York City ChapterFormat: MonographCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Includes Attica prisoners list of demands, information about negotiations between Attica prisoners and prison officials, a timeline of events at Soledad and San Quentin (1969-1971), and statements issued in support of the prison uprisings.
Attica: Two Decades of Prison Resistance Attica: Two Decades of Prison Resistance
Publisher: Black Cat Collective, Nightcrawler ABC; Paterson anarchist CollectiveYear: 1993Format: TranscriptCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Reproduction of transcript from speech given at Seton hall Law School, NJ
Long Haul Long Haul
Year: 2004Format: ArticleCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Reproduction of articles in packet from the Black Panther, Borrowed Times, Los Angeles Free Press, San Diego Door
Solidarity Statement from San Quentin Six Solidarity Statement from San Quentin Six
Authors: David Johnson, Willie Sundiata Tate, Luis TalamantezFormat: StatementCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Solidarity Statement David Johnson, Sundiata Tate and Bato Talamantez on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Attica Prison Rebellion.
Attica: Then and Now Attica: Then and Now
Publisher: Attica Committee to Free DacajeweiahYear: 1978Format: MonographCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Monograph focusing on the Attica Prison Rebellion, its causes, the aftermath and the campaign to free Dacajeweiah. Contents include: Introduction; Prisons: Who Goes and Why?; The Movement Grows; The Uprising; The Prosecution; Who is Dacajeweiah; What is Being Done; Epilogue.
We Are Attica: Interviews with Prisoners from Attica We Are Attica: Interviews with Prisoners from Attica
Publisher: Attica Defense CommitteeFormat: MonographCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
Interviews with prisoners incarcerated in Attica before, during and after the rebellion.
The Attica Liberation Faction Manifesto of Demands and Anti-Depression Platform The Attica Liberation Faction Manifesto of Demands and Anti-Depression Platform
Call Number: Format: ManifestoCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
A summary of the petition that the Attica prisoners addressed to the aGovernor and Department of Corrections reprinted in this fund appeal.
A Prisoner Remembers the Attica Massacre A Prisoner Remembers the Attica Massacre
Publisher: Liberation News ServiceCall Number: Format: ArticleCollection: Attica Prison Rebellion
An interview conducted by Liberation News Service with Chris Reed, a 23 year old black inmate who participated in the rebellion and was indicted with 18 other inmates on 34 counts of first degree kidnapping.