Essay About Freedom

According the Oxford Dictionaries, the term freedom is defined as “The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint”. This definition states that it is our right to have freedom. Over the years, the United States has had many different definitions as for what it means to be free and the word “freedom” itself. If one were to go back earlier in time, they would see that it wasn’t always our right to have “freedom”. By looking at race, social movements, and the economy, we can see that the definition of freedom has changes over time. This is important because without the ever changing notions of freedom, Americans would still have one thought or one definition of “freedom” throughout history, which would

The expectation of citizens would have to begin with Women’s Suffrage in the 1920s. It first began in the late 1800s when women were challenging male power structures by seeking the right to vote. A group formed in 1890 and they were called the National American Women Suffrage Association. Women like Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone, paved the way for the right for women to vote by fighting for what they believed in. The women won partially due to the fact that they were allowed to vote in some states and only on certain issues, like school issues and tax and bond issues. It wasn’t until around 30 years later in 1920, when women were finally allowed the right to vote by the Nineteenth

The Civil Rights took place in the 1960s as mentioned before, and had key player like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. Martin Luther King Jr, promoted the Civil Rights campaign without any violence and made many speeches like his famous “I have a Dream” speech that was said in Washington, DC. But following his assassination, a new leader came to the surface and led the “Black Power” movement in 1966, names Stokely Carmichael. “Black Power” promoted Black Nationalism, self-determination, and greater militancy as a means of self-defence. He stated how the black community needed to stand up and take over, with any means necessary. Another movement was also occurring during this time and that was the Women’s Rights movement. This was a battle for women liberation. The women of this time created the organization known as NOW, the National Organization for Women, which lobbied for equal opportunity, filed lawsuits against gender discrimination, and mobilized public opinion against sexism. The important court case for the Women’s Rights movement would have to be the Roe v. Wade case in 1973. This case, in a Supreme Court ruling, stated that privacy rights protected a women’s decision to end a pregnancy. Though this decision caused many riots and controversy for the conservative side of America, it now allowed