The Meaning of Freedom
To a fourth grader at Fishing Creek Elementary School, freedom means, “Free to wear fake mustaches” (Curtis, 2011). Freedom, to a first grader at Dysart Elementary, means, “Not having to do work inside a little room. Instead we should go out and do the stuff we are learning” (Travis, 2014). The word, freedom, defines many things in each of us logistically, in our physical health, our spiritual walk, and our finances. To entire ethnicities it means absence from cruelty or death. In this essay we discuss the word as it affects a civil/social level which encompasses people in relationship to one another and in society.
The term, individual freedom, denotes a singular implication, but individual freedom in society is not separable. History continues to prove that freedoms in a society are not individual, but collective. Nelson Mandela wrote, “Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me” as he realized his personal freedom alone did not give him satisfaction. Many of the writings from Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Langston Hughes continuously point to the protecting, preserving and upholding of human dignity and the development of personality. Dr. King wrote, “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever” while he sat in a small cell in a Birmingham jail. He continued, “The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained” (King, 1963). Oppression can come in the form of race, color, sex, but also...
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...or meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
King, M. L., Jr. (1963, April 16). Letter from a Birmingham jail [King, Jr.]. Retrieved February 22, 2014, from http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
Mandela, N. (1965). The long walk to freedom. Retrieved February 22, 2014, from http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/0/43/50/45/TS2/textes-bac/The_Long_Walk_to_Freedom.pdf
Roosevelt, E. (1948, September 28). The struggle for human rights. Retrieved February 22, 2014, from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/PDFFiles/Eleanor%20Roosevelt%20-%20The%20Stuggle%20for%20Human%20Rights.pdf
Travis, C. A. (2014, February 21). Interview by K D Tallent. What does freedom mean to you.
Wendy, M. (2005, July 30). Henry David Thoreau and 'civil disobedience'. Retrieved February 22, 2014, from LewRockwell.com website: http://archive.lewrockwell.com/mcelroy/mcelroy86.html
...hile African Americans went through journeys to escape the restrictions of their masters, women went through similar journeys to escape the restrictions of the men around them. Immigrants further strived to fit in with the American lifestyle and receive recognition as an American. All three groups seemed to shape up an American lifestyle. Today, all three of these perceptions of freedom have made an appearance in our lives. As we can see, the transition of freedom from race equality to gender equality shows that freedom has been on a constant change. Everyone acquires their own definition of freedom but the reality of it is still unknown; people can merely have different perceptions of freedom. Nevertheless, in today’s society, African Americans live freely, women are independent, and immigrants are accepted in society. What more freedom can one possibly ask for?
In 1848, David Thoreau addressed and lectured civil disobedience to the Concord Lyceum in response to his jail time related to his protest of slavery and the Mexican War. In his lecture, Thoreau expresses in the beginning “That government is best which governs least,” which sets the topic for the rest of the lecture, and is arguably the overall theme of his speech. He chastises American institutions and policies, attempting to expand his views to others. In addition, he advances his views to his audience by way of urgency, analyzing the misdeeds of the government while stressing the time-critical importance of civil disobedience. Thoreau addresses civil disobedience to apprise the people of the need for a civil protest to the unjust laws created against the slaves and the Mexican-American war.
Freedom has been discussed and debated for a while now and yet no one can completely agree that it exists. Since the Civil, War America has been conditioned to be divided politically. The conflict over the meaning of freedom continues to exist from the civil war, throughout the sixties and in the present. The Civil War was fought over the question of what freedom means in America. The issue was in the open for all to see: slavery. Human slavery was the shameless face of the idea of freedom. The cultural war in the sixties was once more about the question of what freedom is and what it means to Americans. No slaves. Instead, in the sixties and seventies four main issues dominated the struggle for racial equality: opposition to discriminatory immigration controls; the fight against racist attacks; the struggle for equality in the workplace; and, most explosively, the issue of police brutality. For more than two centuries, Americans demanded successive expansions of freedom; progressive freedom. Americans wanted freedom that grants expansions of voting rights, civil rights, education, public health, scientific knowledge and protections from fear.
When thinking of freedom, it’s the idea that people are able to act, speak, and have their own thoughts without any restraints. With oppression it’s the prolong of cruel treatment or control. I think the need for freedom and the overcoming of oppression is something that has been an issue since the time of slavery, maybe even before then it 's just that we’re not considered as property in this day in age and we’re entitled to the same rights as everyone else. When I think about it, are we really free and what are the reasons for someone suffering at some point in their life? Nelson Mandela’s reflection, “Working Toward Peace” and Ursula Le Guin, in her fictional essay “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” both discuss these themes throughout
Freedom has been the cause of wars, political movements, and centuries of debate. The concept of freedom is simple. Freedom is the right to act, speak, or think without hindrance. In our contemporary society, the right to freedom is so basic and innate we struggle to even fathom life without our basic rights. However, less than 200 years ago slavery was legal in the United States. Slavery is the antithesis to freedom, depriving people of the most basic rights and placing them at the whim of their owners. Frederick Douglas, possibly “the most famous and respected African American in the United States for much of the nineteenth century,” details his life as a slave in America (Douglas, 24). Douglas goes on throughout his autobiography to detail
According to Frederick Douglass, having freedom meant having control over one’s life without being dominated and controlled by others.
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print
According to Eric Foner, “The boundaries of freedom that determine who is entitled to enjoy freedom and who is not…have changed over time.” Throughout America’s history, different groups have settled and inhabited the land. Each group arrived with their own concepts and beliefs regarding freedom. Freedom is defined as being free from control or constraints. Over time, however, this definition would change to fit the customs and beliefs of one group over another. Changes in freedom had occurred numerous times in American history for a number of people, whether it be in the form of national freedom, individual freedom, or religious freedom.
According to the Collins Dictionary, “freedom” is defined as “the state of being allowed to do what you want to do”(“freedom”). The definition of freedom is simple, but make yourself free is not easy. Concerning about some common cases which will take away your freedom, such as a time-cost high education attainment. In this essay, I shall persuade that everyone should try his or her best to insist on pursuing freedom. For the individual, it appears that only if you have your personal freedom, can you have a dream; for a country, it seems that only if the country is free, can the country develop; for mankind, it looks like that only if people has their own pursuit of freedom, can their thoughts evolve.
Martin Luther King and Henry David Thoreau each write exemplary persuasive essays that depict social injustice and discuss civil disobedience, which is the refusal to comply with the law in order to prove a point. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King speaks to a specific audience: the African Americans, and discusses why he feels they should bring an end to segregation. Thoreau on the other hand, in “Civil Disobedience,” speaks to a broader, non-addressed audience as he largely expresses his feelings towards what he feels is an unjust government. Both essays however, focus on the mutual topics of morality and justice and use these topics to inform and motivate their audience to, at times, defy the government in order to establish the necessary justice.
In Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," his thoughts and ideas are directly stated, well expressed, explained, and illustrated. King's style of writing gives the reader a clear glimpse into the world with which he struggled and allows his letter to be powerfully effective.
The word freedom has one definition, ...right? Contrary to popular belief, the word freedom, has a multitude of different definitions and every person has a different idea of what freedom means to them. Krik! Krak? by Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat shows the multiple viewpoints of different fictional Native Haitians to reveal their ideas of freedom. With those viewpoints and the recurring symbols; flight, wings and butterflies, Danticat attempts to form a broad image of Haitian freedom.
Freedom is defined as the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. In An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs, Chief Joseph petitions for freedom. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is a call for freedom. The texts written by Chief Joseph and King share many similar philosophies because the situations faced by two cultures, which are embodied in the texts, are similar. Chief Joseph represents a group of Native Americans who are restricted to land that they do not covet. Euro-Americans use lies and armed forces to press the Native Americans off desired territories and onto wastelands. King represents African-Americans who were neglected the rights and opportunity white people owned. King’s speech addresses the fact that African-Americans were held down with violence and segregation. Chief Joseph’s narrative focuses on the issue of broken promises by dominant Euro-Americans. In the end of these two proclamations, both the authors ask for the key to freedom, equality. Chief Joseph’s Narrative and Martin Luther King’s Speech share numerous ideals that all relate to the two culture’s struggles for freedom, while the two contrast because these movements are not completely the same.
Thomas Jefferson’s “The Declaration of Independence” set forward a movement for change. He believed all men are born free and should have personal liberty, Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” shed light on the new birth of freedom for all. He believed in liberty for all including economic freedom, and Barack Obama’s “Grant Park Victory Speech” brought back hope as we saw a change. All of this progress made throughout history cannot go for granted. One must teach their children the skills to live free. Independence means being in control of one’s own life and decision-makings. Still learning the skills, but recognizing what needs to be done; it is important to have freedom, emancipation, and promises to be adapted to ones lives.
----- "Civil Disobedience" from A World of Ideas - Essential Readings for College Readers, Lee A. Jacobus, Bedford Books, 1998, 1849(123 -146)