Freedom Archives
The Freedom Archives is a San Francisco-based repository of print, audio, and visual materials documenting the history of left-progressive movements in the United States and internationally. It operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Contents
Freedom Archives is led by Claude Marks, a former far-left extremist associated with the Weather Underground1 who was at one time one of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives2 for plotting to break convicted Marxist-Leninist Puerto Rican nationalist terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera out of federal prison in 1985. 3
Background
The Freedom Archives preserves historical video and printed materials about left-leaning movements from the 1960s through the 1990s. The group produces leftwing documentaries and houses 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings. 4
The group began in 1999 when a group of radio producers and community activists came together to catalog their historical tapes. 5 The group boasts that it takes no money from government or business interests. 4
The organization has been active in San Francisco politics, opposing a special taxing district in 2019 it claimed would lead to targeting people without a home and increase police harassment of youth. 6
Leadership
Freedom Archives director Claude Marks is a co-founder of the group. He is involved in audio and video production and has been a far-left activist for people he deems “political prisoners” of the United States, including radical-left extremists. 7 He produced documentaries and reported for KPFA-FM in Berkeley during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He also worked for Pacifica Radio Archives. 5
Marks spent time in prison after pleading guilty along with others to conspiring to break from prison Oscar Lopez Rivera, a member of the Marxist-Leninist Puerto Rican nationalist extremist group Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional Puertorriquena (FALN) who was convicted of offenses related to a lethal FALN bombing campaign. While in prison, Marks said he re-connected with people that shared his radical thoughts and determined there was a need to preserve radical media. 8
Walter Turner is the president of the five-member board of directors of the Freedom Archives. Turner is a professor at the College of Marin. He is also the host and producer of “Africa Today” on Pacifica Radio. 9
Other co-founders included Andres Alegria, vice president of operations at Hoff Productions; Nancy Barrett, former co-producer and narrator of the weekly series, “Nothing Is More Precious Than…” from 1973 to 1976 along with Marks and Lincoln Bergman; Bergman, a former news director at KPFA-FM in Berkeley in the late 1960s and early 1970s; Heber Dreher, an anti-war activist also active in Black liberation and anti-apartheid movements; Emiliano Echeverria, a music scholar, radio DJ, and author; Barbara Lubinski, a radio personality first at Georgetown University and later in San Francisco; Kiilu Nyasha, a former member of the Black Panther Party and a radical-left journalist; and Nina Serrano, a poet, radio personality, novelist, and activist. 10
Financial Statistics
Total Assets
Total Revenue
Total Expenses
Revenue Detail
Expenses Detail
Employee Compensation
- Number of Employees: 3
Highest Earning Employees
| Employee | Title | Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Marks | Director | $50,000 |
Grant Activity
All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:
- Total Grant Value: $664,295
- Number of Grants: 71
- Number of Funders: 26
Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years: