James Madison, on liberty (1792)
“In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example . . . of charters of power granted by liberty. This revolution in the practice of the world, may, with an honest praise, be pronounced the most triumphant epoch of its history, and the most consoling presage of its happiness.”
Angela Merkel, on freedom
“To exclude groups of people because of their faith, this isn’t worthy of the free state in which we live. It isn’t compatible with our essential values. And its humanly reprehensible, xenophobia, racism, extremism have no place here. We are fighting to ensure that they don’t have a place elsewhere either.”
Martin Luther King Jr., on the sit-in movement
‘‘The key significance of the student movement lies in the fact that from its inception, everywhere, it has combined direct action with non-violence. This quality has given it the extraordinary power and discipline which every thinking person observes.”
First Amendment to U.S. Constitution (ratified Dec. 15, 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.”
Mary Beth Tinker. (Photo by David W. Bulla)
Today, the annual First Amendment Day activities get underway at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. (more…)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Aug. 28, 1963)
“Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land, and so we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. (more…)
Justice Robert H. Jackson, on freedom (1943)
“One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.”
Iowa State University’s journalism school will host its 11th First Amendment Day on Thursday, April 11, in Ames, Iowa.
It is an annual celebration of the civil rights enshrined in the nation’s first constitutional amendment, including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and right to criticize public figures and government officials. (more…)
C.L. Harris, manager of Greensboro, N.C., Woolworth’s store, on four N.C. A&T students sitting at his lunch counter and asking for service on Feb. 1, 1960
“They can just sit there. It’s nothing to me.”
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
“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.”
