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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.
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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.

African Liberation Movements

African liberation movements arose from a growing nationalism among previously divided African communities, the unfulfilled promise of self-determination following the end of World War II and the weakened economic and political capacities of Western Europe.

Our collection contains a wide range of audio and paper materials representing liberation movements from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, and the Congo (DRC). Our collection also features Human Rights Reports from South Africa, several issues of the revolutionary Azanian journal IKWEZI, and a sub-collection containing general resources about the continent. 

Strengths of the collection include materials on the role of women in African liberation struggles and national reconstruction, an interesting assortment of periodicals from Southern Africa, speeches and interviews with revolutionary leaders from across the continent, audio from solidarity events in the United States, and a set of human rights reports compiled during the transition from Apartheid to democracy in South Africa.

Subcollections

  • Africa- General Resources
    Africa- General Resources
    This collection contains general resources about various themes related to the African continent. The collection draws from many types of materials (periodicals, books, pamphlets) and many different countries (Kenya, Guinea, Tanzania).
  • Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique
    Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique
    This collection contains materials from liberation struggles in former Portuguese colonies. Guinea Bissau gained independence in 1973 and Mozambique and Angola achieved independence in 1975.
  • Anti-Apartheid Solidarity
    Anti-Apartheid Solidarity
    This collection contains materials from Bay Area anti-apartheid movements of the 1980s originating from various sources, primarily Bay Area-based South African solidarity groups.
  • Eritrea
    Eritrea
    Eritrea is located in the Horn of Africa. It gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1991 after a 30 year struggle for independence.
  • IKWEZI
    IKWEZI
    IKWEZI is a revolutionary Azanian Journal based on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought.
  • South Africa
    South Africa
    This collection contains a variety of materials which focus on the anti-apartheid movement both within and outside of South Africa.
  • South Africa: Human Rights Reports
    South Africa: Human Rights Reports
    The Human Rights Commission published weekly, monthly and annual reports. In addition, occasional in-depth special reports were published on important human rights issues.
  • Southwest Africa People
    Southwest Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)- Namibia
    SWAPO (Southwest Africa Peoples Organization) was formed in 1960 to fight for liberation in present day Namibia. Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990.
  • Zaire-DRC
    Zaire-DRC
    This collection contains materials from the Congolese struggle against neocolonialism and the rule of General Mobuto Sese Seko.
  • Zimbabwe
    Zimbabwe
    This collection contains information about the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe, mainly focused on the struggle against Rhodesia and white settler rule.

Documents

Amilcar Cabral Amilcar Cabral
Format: mp3Collection: African Liberation Movements
Amilcar Cabral, leader of the liberation Movement of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands, assassinated by the Portuguese and the CIA. He talks informally in New York in October 1972 with representatives of African-American organizations. This talk is the basis for his book Return to the Source.
Global Resistance - South Africa Global Resistance - South Africa
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesCollection: African Liberation Movements
Amandla!; Winnie Mandela talks about the role of Black mothers in South Africa, Afrikaaners, the necessity to destroy apartheid.; People Shall Govern from Radio Free South Africa; Winnie Mandela about the grassroots struggle, the Black Womens Federation, prison and political education; Winnie Mandela on the creation of the Freedom Charter by the ANC, hope for the freedom of South Africa; Toi Toi song
Global Resistance Africa to Palestine from Roots of Resistance Global Resistance Africa to Palestine from Roots of Resistance
Publisher: Freedom ArchivesProgram: Roots of ResistanceCollection: African Liberation Movements
Amilcar Cabral, leader of the liberation movement of Guinea-Bissau and the cape Verde Islands, talks about the basis for his book, Return to the Source; Winnie Mandela, one of the leaders of the African National Congress, speaks on the internalized oppression of Africans in racist South Africa; Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, speaking on the day of his release from prison, where he had been held for over 20 years; Chris Hani, a leader of the anti-apartheid movement, interviewed by Barbara Lubinski and Heber Dreher during a visit to San Francisco; Speech by a spokeswomen for Arab Students, with chants in solidarity with Palestine during a Bay Area demonstration in the late 1970s; Poet June Jordan reciting one of her poems about Palestine at a solidarity event held in 1990.
Correspondance to Cuba Correspondance to Cuba
Publisher: SWAPOYear: 1981Format: CorrespondenceCollection: Southwest Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)- Namibia
Letter to Dr. Isodoro, Minister of Foreign Relations of Cuba about upcoming UN meeting and general update.
Statement before the 35th Regular Session of the UN General Assembly Statement before the 35th Regular Session of the UN General Assembly
Author: Comrade Theo-Ben Gurirab SWAPO Permanent Observer to the UNPublisher: Material Aid for ZANU (PF)Date: 3/2/1981Volume Number: 2-MarFormat: TranscriptCollection: Southwest Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)- Namibia
The Way Ahead: Strategies for the Women's Movement The Way Ahead: Strategies for the Women's Movement
Author: Ottilie AbrahamsDate: 11/2/1990Volume Number: 2-NovFormat: ReportCollection: Southwest Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)- Namibia
Outlines proposals for the progression of the women's movement in newly independent Namibia. This report offers ten areas in which the engagement of women can be considered including: the constitution, a charter of women's rights, a public awareness campaign, formation of a national council, a commission on the status of women, a woman's centre, national expansion, international links, funding, men.
Proposal: Umbrella Organisation for Namibian Women Proposal: Umbrella Organisation for Namibian Women
Date: 3/3/1990Format: Government DocumentCollection: Southwest Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)- Namibia
Draft of a constitution for an umbrella organization for Namibian women.
Draft Constitution of SWAPO Women's Council Draft Constitution of SWAPO Women's Council
Publisher: SWAPO Women's CouncilYear: 1970Volume Number: Dec-Jan.Format: Government DocumentCollection: Southwest Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)- Namibia
A draft constitution for the SWAPO Women's Council outlining the goals of the organization, as well as its structure.
Sexism and Namibian Society Sexism and Namibian Society
Author: Ottilie AbrahamsDate: 3/2/1990Format: StatementCollection: Southwest Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)- Namibia
Provides an overview of sexual discrimination in Namibian society and the need to combat sexism in the newly independent Namibia.
New Year Message to the Namibian People New Year Message to the Namibian People
Authors: Comrade Sam Nujoma, President of SWAPOPublisher: SWAPO of Namibia, Permanent Observer Mission to the UNDate: 1/1/1986Format: TranscriptCollection: Southwest Africa People's Organization (SWAPO)- Namibia
New Year message delivered by Sam Nujoma of SWAPO outlining the political and military progress made during 1985 in the struggle for Namibian national liberation.