#101 What is Freedom?

Logistics questions?

• Answer questions about Discovering History, Canvas, or anything else covered on first day.

What is freedom? Your thoughts.

• In pairs, students pair up share responses to the homework prompt, “What is freedom?”
• Once both partners agree on an important point, they can put up to two points on the board.
• If you see something on the board that you want to endorse, you can put a check mark next to the point.

What is freedom? Historical perspectives.

• Around the room are taped a handful of quotes (Google Docs).
  • First, circulate with your group members to read and consider them all.
  • Then, select one that you would like to analyze and discuss the following two questions:
    
  • What does the quote mean? How does it specifically frame the concept of freedom? Put it in your own words.
    
  • Think of one example from the past that might illustrate this quote: in the way it happened, the way it is written about, the way it is studied, and/or the way it is remembered.

​What is freedom? The view from Charlottesville.

• Next, we will consider another quote discussing American freedom in the context of the recent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va.
  • But first: what happened in Charlottesville? (students respond)
  • View clips from “Charlottesville: Race and Terror” by Vice (0:00-0:43, 6:37-7:13, 11:11-12:05)
  • Consider:
    • “This [the Charlottesville ‘Unite the Right’ rally] is my First Amendment right. . . . This is the right of every American to be able to peaceably assemble and speak their mind free of intimidation. That’s why I decided to do it.” -Jason Kessler
      
  • How might you compare this statement with the earlier quote discussed by your group?
    
  • What do ideas about “freedom” or “rights” have to do with what happened in Charlottesville?
    
  • How does history help us understand what happened in Charlottesville?

Debriefing

• Why did we do this? Anticipating skills (analysis, discussion) and thematic connections (the thread of “freedom,” “rights,” and history as a disciplinary tool).​
• Next stop will be going back in time to the latter part of the eighteenth century when this question of freedom was central to the debate over independence from Britain.

Homework: Assignments#102.