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 We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings.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

Cointelpro

This collection contains material on the FBI program COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program). This program served to disrupt, destroy and infiltrate many progressive organizations during the 60's-70's in the US. The existence of the program was discovered and made public after a break-in at a Selective Service office in Media, Pennsylvania. The anti-war sympathizers had intended to destroy draft records but when they found evidence of a larger web of government repression, they kept the information and released it to the public. This sparked public outrage and resulted in Congress convening the Church Committee to investigate. While no government officials were ever held criminally accountable for the program and the subsequent frame-ups, assassinations and arrests, a number of civil suits were filed. The vast majority of our materials are drawn from two organizations, The Committee for the Suit Against Government Misconduct and The National Taskforce for COINTELPRO Litigation and Research. Both of these organizations organized around those imprisoned by COINTELPRO and distributed information about the program and its lasting effects on movements for national liberation.

The National Taskforce for COINTELPRO Litigation and Research led the struggle to expose COINTELPRO attacks on the Black Liberation struggle. By educating and organizing, and by coordinating law suits filed by Assata Shakur, the Republic of New Afrika 11 and others, the Task Force worked to expose the depths of government attacks and to free some of its major targets.

The Committee for the Suit Against Government Misconduct worked under the leadership of National Task Force for COINTELPRO Litigation and Research as part of the growing movement against government counterintelligence. Members of the Committee are plaintiffs in Clark v. USA, a major civil law suit against the FBI, Justice Department, Richard Nixon, John Mitchell and others. The plaintiffs have been named as targets of illegal activities for which former FBI officials have been convicted on criminal charges.

To learn more about COINTELPRO, check out the Freedom Archives documentary COINTELPRO 101.

Documents

Federal Appeals Court Gives Richard Nixon Extra-Legal Rights To Immediate Appeal of Denial of Absolute Immunity for Crimes Federal Appeals Court Gives Richard Nixon Extra-Legal Rights To Immediate Appeal of Denial of Absolute Immunity for Crimes
Publisher: Committee for the Suit Against Government MisconductDate: 3/11/1980Volume Number: 11-MarFormat: Press ReleaseCollection: Cointelpro
Federal Appeals Court Gives Richard Nixon Extra-Legal Rights To Immediate Appeal of Denial of Absolute Immunity for Crimes.
Statement of Plaintiffs in Clark V. USA, Targets of FBI COINTELPRO Illegal Activities, in Response to Current Trial of FBI Officials Felt and Miller Statement of Plaintiffs in Clark V. USA, Targets of FBI COINTELPRO Illegal Activities, in Response to Current Trial of FBI Officials Felt and Miller
Publisher: Committee for the Suit Against Government MisconductDate: 9/23/1980Volume Number: 23-SepFormat: StatementCollection: Cointelpro
Statement of Plaintiffs in Clark V. USA, Targets of FBI COINTELPRO Illegal Activities, in Response to Current Trial of FBI Officials Felt and Miller.
Form Letter to Judge Kathleen Parker Form Letter to Judge Kathleen Parker
Publisher: National Task Force for COINTELPRO Litigation & ResearchDate: 1/1980Volume Number: JanuaryFormat: CorrespondenceCollection: Cointelpro
Form letter urging Judge Kathleen Parker to release Geronimo Pratt from prison
Tip of the Iceberg (March 1980) Tip of the Iceberg (March 1980)
Publisher: Committee for the Suit Against Government MisconductDate: 3/1980Format: PeriodicalCollection: Cointelpro
formerly Update. Nixon's the One-- Or What are They Trying to Hide?; Frame-Up of Shasha Malik Engineered by Top Officials; Government Continues Railroad of Geronimo Pratt; Assata and Sundiata on the Offensive Against COINTELPRO; Freedom of Four Puerto Rican Nationalists Advances Struggle Against Police Terror; FBI to Release More Files-Thousands of deletions Hide Crimes; Victory Nears for Geronimo Pratt: Government Cover-Up Exposed; FBI Seeks Expanded Secret Police Power; more.
Tip of the Iceberg (November 1980) Tip of the Iceberg (November 1980)
Publisher: Committee for the Suit Against Government MisconductDate: 11/1980Format: PeriodicalCollection: Cointelpro
formerly Update. Special Washington Trial Issue. FBI on Trial? COINTELPRO 1980; Two Press Statements of Clark v. USA Plantiffs on the Washington FBI Trial.
Tip of the Iceberg (Summer 1980) Tip of the Iceberg (Summer 1980)
Publisher: Committee for the Suit Against Government MisconductYear: 1980Volume Number: SummerFormat: PeriodicalCollection: Cointelpro
Formerly Update. Cover Story: Government Moves to Consolidate COINTELPRO Cover-Up: Nixon Granted Stay - FBI Trial Postponed. Also: Movement to Exonerate Assata Grows as COINTELPRO Attacks Grow; The Pressure is Mounting to Free Geronimo Pratt; The Puerto Rican Prisoners of War Speak to the People; FOIA Files Reveal Insidious FBI Methods; Updates on RNA-11; Dhoruba Moore and the case to hold government authorities responsible for the murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark.
Update: Committee for the Suit Against Government Misconduct (December-January 1979-1980) Update: Committee for the Suit Against Government Misconduct (December-January 1979-1980)
Publisher: Committee for the Suit Against Government MisconductYear: 1980Volume Number: December-JanuaryFormat: PeriodicalCollection: Cointelpro
Assata Shakur Liberated!!; Clark v. USA Victory - Nixon Must Answer Charges; Battle to Free Geronimo Pratt Advances; Richard Dhoruba Moore-Black Freedom Fighter Exposes COINTELPRO Frame-Up; US Assassination of Independentista Avenged by Puerto Rican Armed Clandestine Movement; War in America Forum-Struggle for Land Only Strategy to Free POWs; more.