Free Speech Storyline
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FIGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
The Free Speech STORYLINE documents the evolution of Free Speech, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law since the sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215. Students taking American INSIGHT’s Free Speech Online Course, Make History Every Day!, have a chance to define free speech for their generation using our Free Speech Storyline, as they explore the historical free speech heroes featured here.
Behind each person or event on the Free Speech Storyline is a link to more detailed information. For convenience of reference to general information regarding the persons and events listed in the Storyline, American INSIGHT has included links to well-known websites. In providing such links, American INSIGHT makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of the information provided by such sites. On some sites, it is possible that a balanced and objective view of an individual or event may not be presented because of the omission of relevant information or the inclusion of facts that have not been substantiated. Readers desiring to learn more about individuals and events on the Free Speech Storyline are urged to consult sources that have been subject to peer review by other scholars.
Greta Thunberg
2003 –
“I have learned you are never too small to make a difference.”
Global climate activist
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
1969 –
“Where there is no freedom of speech, there is no conscience.”
U.S. General; chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Secretary of State
Oprah Winfrey
1954 –
“Speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.”
“Queen of All Media,” philanthropist, first black
multi-billionaire in American history
Fall of the Soviet Union
1991
“When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie.”
—Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Soviet Empire dissolves into 15 independent states
Colin Powell
1937 – 2021
“There is no end to the good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
Gregory Harvey
1936 – 2018
First Amendment lawyer, scholar of early American history, lifelong defender of the Rule of Law
Gloria Steinem
1934 –
“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”
Nationally recognized leader of the Feminist Movement in America
Dick Gregory
1932 – 2017
“There is a limit on how much information you can keep bottled up.”
Comedian, political activist, and pioneer for mocking bigotry and racism
Martin Luther King Jr.
1929 – 1968
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Martin Luther King wins Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence
Robert Indiana
1928 – 2018
“My goal is that LOVE should cover the world.”
Robert Indiana makes LOVE during the Pop Art Revolution
Lenny Bruce
1925 – 1966
“My only challenge was to tell my truth, man.”
Satirist whose conviction in an obscenity trial becomes a landmark for freedom of speech
Fred Korematsu
1919 – 2005
“If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”
Civil Rights activist arrested for objecting to the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II
Arthur B. Carles
1882 – 1952
“A painting is beautiful for its felicitous harmony of colors. Nothing more or less should be sought.”
Artist shocks Philadelphia with new style of Art based on radical French Impressionists
Violet Oakley
1874 – 1961
“Neither the masculine nor the feminine has any place in art. Art is human.”
Philadelphia artist completes murals in Pennsylvania State Capitol Building and becomes America’s first female muralist.
Ida B. Wells
1862 – 1931
“Equal and exact justice be accorded to every citizen of whatever race, who finds a home within the borders of the land of the free.”
Civil Rights activist helps found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
American Civil War
1861 – 1865
“Liberty is your birthright … and it is a sin that you have been deprived of it for so many years.”
—Abraham Lincoln
Civil War abolishes two centuries of slavery in America
Sigmund Freud
1856 – 1939
“The first requisite of civilization is that of justice.”
Controversial neurologist influences 20th Century with his invention of psychoanalysis.
John Hunn
1818 – 1894
American farmer and abolitionist who was a “station master” of the Underground Railroad in Delaware
Frederick Douglass
1818 – 1895
“To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”
National abolitionist leader famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings
Henry Highland Garnet
1815 – 1882
“No oppressed people have ever secured their rights without resistance.”
First Black minister to address the U.S. House of Representatives and encourage slaves to rebel against their owners
Bethel Burying Ground Project
1810 –
The project researches the history of a 19th Century African American burial ground in Philadelphia built on land purchased in 1810 by the prominent historical figure, Reverend Richard Allen, and the founding trustees of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Sojourner Truth
1797 – 1883
“I am the seed of the free, and I know it. I intend to bear great fruit.”
Women’s rights activist demands equal human rights for all women.
David Walker
1796 – 1830
“Treat us like men, and there is no danger but we will all live in peace and happiness.”
Abolitionist, writer and activist calls for Black unity in the fight against oppressive and unjust slavery
Bill of Rights
1791
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
First Ten Amendments to the US Constitution
guarantee freedom of speech, assembly, and worship
U.S. Constitution
1787
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice … and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity
U.S. Constitution delineates national framework of government and individual rights
Declaration of Independence
1776
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”
Declaration of Independence separates American Colonies from the British Empire
Richard Allen
1760 – 1831
“This land, which we have watered with our tears and our blood, is now our mother country, and we are well satisfied to stay where wisdom abounds and the gospel is free.”
Founder, African Methodist Episcopal Church, first independent black denomination in America
Marquis de Lafayette
1757 – 1834
“When the government violates the people’s rights, insurrection is, for the people… the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties.”
Major-general in the Continental Army under George Washington; leader of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution; author of Declaration of the Rights of Man.
Free Speech Trial
1735
The press has “a liberty both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth.”
—Andrew Hamilton
Andrew Hamilton successfully defends publisher John Peter Zenger by establishing that jurors, not judges, determine the truth in a defense to an accusation of libel.
Benjamin Chew, Esq.
1722 – 1810
“An opposition of force of arms to the lawful authority of the king or his ministries … is high treason, but in the moment when the king or his ministries shall exceed the constitutional authority vested in them … submission to their mandates becomes treason”
Quaker-born legal scholar, head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System under both Colony and Commonwealth
Jupiter Hammon
1711 – 1806
“… I am writing to you with a design to say something to you for your good, and with a view to promote your happiness.”
Poet becomes the first African-American to be published in America
English Bill of Rights
1689
“Freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.”
English Bill of Rights limits power of the royalty; supports democratic elections; and reinforces freedom of speech for all people.
William Penn
1682
No people can be truly happy … if abridged of the freedom of their consciences as to their religious profession and worship
Penn welcomes immigrants to Pennsylvania
Andrew Hamilton, Esq.
1676 -1741
“It is natural, it is a privilege, I will go farther, it is a right, which all free men claim that they are entitled to complain when they are hurt.”
In 1735, Scottish lawyer successfully argues that Truth is a defense against charges of libel.
William Penn
1670
“Liberty of conscience” is not “a mere Liberty of Mind” but a liberty to exercise religion.
Penn writes “The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience” from his jail cell in the Tower of London
William Penn
1668
“Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.”
William Penn sent to Tower of London for Quaker beliefs.
English Civil War
1642 – 1651
“I plead for this nation, and all the honest men therein.”
Civil War shifts power of government from the King to the people
George Fox
1624 – 1691
“Stand still in that power that brings peace.”
English Dissenter, founder of Religious Society of Friends preaches radical Quaker thought.
Mary Dyer
1611 – 1660
“Nay, man, I am not now to repent.”
Executed on Boston Common for expressing Quaker beliefs
Anne Askew
1521 – 1546
“I said that I would rather die than break my faith.”
Evangelical martyr, renaissance writer, woman who refused to submit to the rules of her day
William Tyndale
1494 – 1536
“I perceived how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth except … in their mother tongue.”
Executed for translating the Bible from Latin into English for the common man
Magna Carta
1215
“To no one deny or delay right or justice.”
‘The Great Charter’ establishes the principle that everyone is subject to the law, even the king; guarantees the rights of individuals; the right to justice; and the right to a fair trial.