Facing Freedom in America - Chicago History Museum

Generations of Americans have grappled with the meaning of freedom as it is expressed in the United States’ founding documents. Discover how fights for equality has transformed what it means to be free and how denied rights are gained.

Based on the central idea that the history of the United States has been shaped by conflicts over interpretations of freedom, this exhibition uses images, artifacts, and interactive elements to explore familiar and not-so-familiar stories from the nation’s past. From women’s suffrage and the formation of labor unions, to Japanese internment and a local school boycott, the exhibition highlights some of the ways Americans have struggled over the meaning of freedom.

Learn more at facingfreedom.org.

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Sponsors

The Naphtali ben Yakov Pritzker American History Wing is made possible through a generous grant from Tawani Foundation, through the support of Col. (IL) J. N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (retired), President and Founder, Pritzker Military Library and Tawani Foundation.

This broadside advertised a convention held by the National Woman’s Party. The group’s ideas and actions were considered radical, even by some other suffragists. CHM, ICHi-061929

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In the early 1940s, A. Philip Randolph organized a March on Washington movement to protest discrimination in government hiring practices and segregation in the armed forces. Flyers like this one urged black Chicagoans to support Randolph’s plans. CHM, ICHi-062389

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This propaganda poster was created to raise money and support for the US war effort and depicts the Japanese Home Islands with a bomb falling on the flag of the Imperial Japanese Army, US Treasury Department. CHM, ICHi-062391

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This flyer reads "Wanted—Thousands of Freedom Marchers," promoting a march on City Hall to protest school segregation on October 22, 1963. CHM, ICHi-020840