Reimagining Liberty

Thank you to FFT Fellow Bethany Seal and her team mates, Hannah Jones and Heather Serpas (West Harrison High School – Gulfport, MS) for sharing this reflection on independence after recently completing their fellowship contextualizing American history to create a new unit celebrating and reflecting the diversity of their students and bring to life literary texts used in the classroom.

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Growing up, we celebrated Independence Day without fully understanding the meaning, or the purpose, of the holiday–cookouts, family gatherings, and fireworks were what “independence” meant to us. Throughout our years in school, we learned about historic events like the American Revolution, read speeches by politicians about freedom and independence, and recited the “Pledge of Allegiance,” always, of course, ending with the phrase “with liberty and justice for all.” 

As English teachers, we have studied beyond the basics of these events, and have more closely analyzed these words, but it wasn’t until our Fund for Teachers fellowship experience that the enormity of the history, and the weight of the words, became fully apparent to us. 

We’ve all heard “give me liberty or give me death,” and we actually use the speech in our classrooms, but no amount of reading compares to the impact of actually participating in a mock revolution in Boston, or touring the same area where this nation’s founders were bold enough to start a revolution. Our forefathers were literally dying for independence, a right we so often take for granted.

In Philadelphia, we visited the place where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written, and we stood next to the ultimate symbol for freedom, the Liberty Bell; in New York, we visited Lady Liberty herself. Nothing could have prepared us for the weight carried by the experiences of those who were there before us, the people who paved the way for our current freedoms.

In Washington, D.C., we witnessed firsthand the memorials constructed in remembrance of our country’s journey to independence. We felt the impact of those who sacrificed their lives for the independence we have today; there, we thought about the families they left behind–all for the freedom they believed in, the freedom they wanted each of us to experience. We stood in the place where Dr. King expressed his dream for the future, a dream for freedom, independence, and equality for all.

We experienced what it meant to have our safety, our security, and our independence threatened when we visited the September 11 Museum and felt the devastation that an attack on our freedom could have–an attack that happened during our own lifetimes.

These experiences showed us how each of the freedoms we are now afforded stems from brave people standing up against oppression of some kind. Each of these experiences taught us something about independence, bravery, and most importantly, about those people who were involved–people with unfathomable courage and determination, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. 

Through each of these experiences, though, we also began to understand that “liberty and justice” isn’t yet “for all.” Everyone in this country, and many people across the world, currently are not afforded all of the freedoms, all of the independence, they should have. Everyone isn’t able to express themselves freely. Everyone in the world can’t worship freely. Everyone isn’t free from want or free from fear. Though our country and the world have overcome so much in terms of independence and in individuals living freely, realistically, everyone isn’t free just yet. 

Like many, before this journey, we took our freedom for granted. The independence we are afforded now didn’t come freely to others, and for some, these freedoms still don’t come freely. We experienced places where history was made–places where independence was won. We were surrounded by information about those who were brave enough, and those who were bold enough, to make history and to fight for the freedom and independence they believed in. 

Thanks to Fund for Teachers and this fellowship, our view of independence has been transformed. Though the places we visited were significant in history, the lessons we’ve taken from these places are more relevant today than ever. This Independence Day, we will stop to reflect on the experiences we had and the brave people who came before us to ensure our right to be free–and we’ll think about those people currently fighting for freedoms and for their independence still to come.