Emma Goldman Essay

Parvathi Reddi

History 7B: Section 121

Professor Einhorn

14 April 2014

Emma Goldman Rough Draft

America, in the early twentieth century, was centered on the Progressive Era. This was a period of unrest and reform. Monopolies continued in spite of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. Social problems flourished in the U.S. During the 1910s labor unions continued to grow as the middle classes became more and more unhappy. Unsafe working conditions were underscored by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in which hundreds of female workers were killed. The plight of the Negro worsened, all while women finally received the right to vote through the ratification of the nineteenth amendment. Although this was a turbulent time in America, it was also a time to remember. During this time period, Emma Goldman devoted all of her attention to the cause of upholding the first amendment clause of freedom of speech. The right to free speech is one of the most fundamental American guarantees. However, defining the limits of free speech has never been an easy task.

Freedom of expression was a cause Emma Goldman championed throughout her adult life. She was outraged that in the United States, "a country which guaranteed free speech, officers armed with long clubs should invade an orderly assembly” (UC Berkeley). During the early 1900’s, Emma Goldman focused her attention on upholding the first amendment right to free speech during a turbulent time. President McKinley’s assignation the early 1900’s resulted in a decrease in free speech. Repression was heightened when the Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917 and 1918 were passed. These acts ultimately resulted in long prison terms for those who protested United States entry into the First World ...

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...acter and removed her from her martyr pedestal and placed her in with the common man.

Emma Goldman’s Free Speech Fights served to not only emphasize the problems with the time period, but also served to illustrate her true character. Censorship and repression were large themes of the century. Goldman worked hard to attain equality through speech rallies and demonstrations, despite the charged hatred that she was met with. Nevertheless, Goldman was not the immortalized martyr that she is portrayed as. Through the time period, even she felt censored. She felt as if she could not speak her mind in regards to her emotions. Thus she liberated herself emotionally through her letter writing to her closest confidants. But Goldman’s struggle to uphold the first amendment begs the question: if this country is built on the foundation of equality, then how free really is free?