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. 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.

Search Results

The Black Panther Black Community News Service The Black Panther Black Community News Service
Publisher: The Black Panther PartyYear: 1970Volume Number: Vol. 5-7 August 15Format: PeriodicalCollection: Black Panther Party Community News Service
Cover Story: Revolutionary Suicide-- "That's Suicide Motivated by the Desire to Change the System, or Else Die Trying. To Change the Reactionary Conditions." Also, Minister Huey P. Newton, Back on the Streets with the People.
The Black Panther Black Community News Service The Black Panther Black Community News Service
Publisher: The Black Panther PartyYear: 1973Volume Number: Vol. 10-13 August 11Format: PeriodicalCollection: Black Panther Party Community News Service
Cover Story: Death is Irrevocable. Also Inside: Operation Gemstone (cont.), Impeach Nixon Preceedings Underway, Black Families Raided, Doctors Defend Sterilization, Funds for Violence Center Approved, Rizzo's Special Police, Portuguese Massacre 50,000 Angolans, Barbee- Demands U.S. Aid for African Drought, more.