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McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum
18 October 2006 Send To a Friend“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
The Freedom Museum is the first museum dedicated to freedom and the First Amendment: what it means, what it’s cost, what it’s worth, and why it’s so important.
The above quote is often used to illustrate the spirit of the First Amendment and is etched in the lobby of the Tribune Tower, attributed to Voltaire. In preparation for this review, I learned that the person responsible for that succinct and oft-quoted phrase was actually a woman writing under a male pseudonym trying to sum up Voltaire’s beliefs on freedom of thought and expression.
My immediate reaction was dismay that this attribution would be etched in stone in a building dedicated to the dissemination of news, knowledge, and truth (yes, I’m talking about the Chicago Tribune), when I discovered the actual source of the quote within one minute. To be fair, that quote was carved decades ago, long before the Internet became the world’s fastest fact-checker.
I also thought it seemed distinctly appropriate. A woman writes about a man’s beliefs on freedom and expression, but to get her work published she must say she’s a man. One of her phrases - which is about the right to expression - is then attributed to the man she’s writing about. The price she paid to be heard was to deny her gender, and apparently until the age of the Internet, to have her thoughts credited to someone who’d died 90 years before she was born!
The museum itself is similarly thought-provoking. It is not a fun afternoon romp with the kids. Instead, it is a moving, and, dare I say it, educational experience. It was designed to help people, especially teenagers, know, understand, and appreciate the five freedoms granted in the First Amendment.
I was keenly interested in the freedom of the press displays and interactive exhibits. My degree’s in journalism, and even though I’ve chosen to be more of a publisher than a reporter, part of my heart is still in those investigative classes. I remember when my professor came back from an assignment in Zagreb with a cast. She’d been shot in the foot while covering the war. She turned around and went right back. Someone had to cover what was going on over there, and she’d taken that responsibility. For my final article in my investigative journalism course of study I chose to delve into the nursing home situation. I was able to visit the Department of Health for hours, days on end. What I found was appalling, and later the Indianapolis Star covered the issues.
The contrast between those two is what the Freedom Museum is all about. My ability to dig deep into the problems of the nursing home system was provided by the First Amendment. My professor’s dedication to reporting in a war zone - despite the danger she experienced - was due to that country’s lack of freedom of the press, and almost lack of press altogether.
That’s just one of the freedoms. Take my advice: spend $5, spend an hour in the museum, then spend some time in the city. When you pass a street performer, think about whether he’s got a permit, whether he’s in one of the areas forbidden by the recent ordinance, and whether you care. When you hear the guy with the microphone spreading “God’s Word” - is that freedom of speech? Freedom of religion? Just plain annoying? An uplifting message in the middle of the chaos? When you go out to eat, regardless if you’re a smoker or not, justify support of the no smoking law in Chicago in relation to what you’ve learned. Then figure out whether or not you think foie gras should be allowed, in the same context.
A good friend of mine would say I’m being all “learn-y”. My son would say it’s too much like school. I say that’s my right.
First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America
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.
Freedom Museum
445 N Michigan Ave
Wed - Mon 10am to 6pm, $5
(312)222-4860
