The Freedom Archives – An Amazing Collection of Progressive History
By far one of my favorite radio documentaries comes from the Freedom Archives, which is how I first heard about them. Based in San Francisco, they now have more than 10,000 hours of audio and video tapes chronicling progressive history.
Click Here to Learn more about the Freedom Archives, and search their catalog.
My first introduction, which is also available at the Durland Alternatives Library is:
Prisons on Fire : Attica, George Jackson, and Black Liberation.
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his documentary is stunning. It’s about an hour long, so I must have listened at least 3 times during a road trip. This was my first introduction to the Attica Uprising, and also helped me understand the context for much of the black liberation activism in the 70’s and 80’s. Attica is not only significant for us who live in New York State, but is one of the most significant prison uprisings in the United States.
Just this past September thousands of prisoners went on strike in remembrance of Attica, and to continue fighting the oppression they face.
More about the Freedom Archives
info@freedomarchives.org
(from their website)
The Freedom Archives contains over 10,000 hours of audio and video tapes 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 We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings.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 collections include 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.
These materials constitute a compelling record of 50 years of recorded sound, images and cultural diversity. The music/poetry mixes, production techniques, and sound collages represent an innovative contribution to the art of radio and the cultural ambiance of “the 60s” and subsequent decades.
Among our collections include an extensive materials on La Raza centering around audio tapes about Latino culture, community and news from independent producers Jesse ‘Chuy’ Varela—now at KCSM—and Pajaro Latino by Jorge Herera at KPOO (a program that continues to this day). We also hold a comprehensive collection of the radio work of the late Colin Edwards—who produced programs for the BBC, Canadian Broadcasting, Irish Radio, and Pacifica Radio about everything from the Black Power Movement to Vietnam and the Middle East.
The Freedom Archives also contains exclusive material on the civil rights, student, antiwar, prison, women’s, and LGBTQI movements along with broad collections on the Puerto Rican independence struggle, political prisoners and in-depth reports on key events from San Francisco to South Africa.
Catalog: http://search.freedomarchives.org/
