On September 13, the National Liberty Museum (NLM) (321 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106) kicks off a yearlong initiative, The Year of Free Speech, centered around three exhibitions exploring freedom of speech as a cornerstone of democracy. The three parts of the series will each explore the past, present, and future of our First Amendment right, beginning with Free Speech: Our Right, Our Responsibility, an exhibition focused on the origins and purpose of our right to free speech. The exhibition is on display in NLM’s Flame Gallery and lower level gallery from September 13 to July 2025.
The Year of Free Speech is part of a new vision for NLM’s visitor experience, Past Present, Future, Always. The new strategy allows the museum to present and explore a single theme surrounding liberty through various exhibitions taking place over a year.
“Through Past, Present, Future, Always, NLM can thoughtfully examine questions around liberty by presenting comprehensive, multi-faceted exhibitions spanning entire eras,” said Dr. Alaine K. Arnott, President & CEO of NLM. “Freedom of speech is essential to self-discovery and self-actualization, which leads to an open and flourishing society. It is at the heart of our democracy and we hope to inspire our visitors to apply the themes and issues explored in The Year of Free Speech to their daily lives.”
In Free Speech: Our Right, Our Responsibility, visitors can trace freedom of speech’s historical and philosophical roots to the present, demonstrating how it fosters civil discourse while fueling societal progress. Through interactive displays, images and text, the exhibition and its related public programming invites visitors to reflect on the vital role of free speech in shaping our collective future, challenging us to navigate its freedoms with commitment and care.
As visitors enter the museum, they are greeted by The Year of Free Speech title wall, which offers a glance at key moments in the history of free speech from six time periods: Ancient, Early Modern, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, and the 2000s. The core of Free Speech: Our Right, Our Responsibility is located in The Flame Gallery and surrounds the museum’s towering centerpiece, the “Flame of Liberty,” a 20-foot glass sculpture created by famed glass artist Dale Chihuly. Commissioned by NLM founder Irvin Borowsky in 1998, the sculpture invites the viewer to consider the power of liberty and the delicate balance required to maintain and nurture it.
Inside the Flame Gallery, the Free Speech: Our Right, Our Responsibility exhibition opens with an introduction, “What is Free Speech?”, establishing the concept and how it is written in the Constitution’s First Amendment and Bill of Rights. Guests also explore the cultural forces that inform how and why we learn to speak freely and view videos offering examples of free speech questions presented in Free to Speak, hosted by Nadine Strossen. This leads into the next section, “Know Your Rights,” which examines what is protected and excluded from free speech. Here, two sets of six flip panels offer different scenarios to ask visitors to decide whether it is protected or excluded under our First Amendment rights. The section also interrogates the challenges of free speech and the risks of censorship limiting tolerance or our ability to empathize with opposing views.
The exhibition continues into “Tensions,” which features four reader panels surrounding the “Flame of Liberty,” illustrating the sculpture’s metaphor. Chihuly’s flame represents liberty and our collective efforts to care for that fire so it continues to burn brightly as a beacon of our democracy. Exercising free speech is how our society experiences and practices liberty. However, if left unchecked, that flame can burn uncontrollably and cause harm. “Tensions” asks us to consider the good, the bad, and the responsibilities to understand better how to exercise our rights and how the law supports them.
NLM builds on the previous sections with “Then & Now,” where visitors read case studies examining famous historical and contemporary examples of free speech across four areas. Under Education, the panels highlight students practicing freedom of speech and how parents, schools, and the courts challenged them. The timeline includes moments such as Billy Golitis refusing to pledge the flag in the ‘40s, the student leaders of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement in the 1960s, and students advocating for banned books on Black culture and LGBTQIA+ stories in the 2020s.
Through Politics and Civil Rights, “Then & Now” details how movement leaders like Fredrick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King spoke about the importance of free speech and how they inspired others to speak up. The panels also reveal how freedom of expression is practiced by groups that oppose civil rights as well as how it has been defended by groups ensuring it is available to all, such as the ACLU’s defense of the KKK’s right to assemble in the 1976 case National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie.
Artists and entertainers have always been at the epicenter of free speech controversies as they make work that “pushes the envelope” of what is commonly accepted. In Arts & Entertainment, NLM points to examples such as Early Modern drawings satirizing Catholic bans against heretical printing, comedian George Carlin’s famous “Seven Dirty Words” stand-up in the 1970s, and Tipper Gore’s push for Parental Advisory warnings on music in the 1990s. Finally, in Communication, the exhibition illustrates the opportunities and challenges of shifting technology and free speech, including “Black Twitter” and community-building on social media, digital era issues, and free speech law, and expression on privately owned platforms like Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter).
Free Speech: Our Right, Our Responsibility continues down in NLM’s lower level gallery, where visitors digest and practice what they have learned. The lower level has a Resource Center with books, additional case studies, podcasts, videos, and games engaging in topics surrounding free speech. The space also features a Conversation Pit, offering an opportunity to practice free speech discourse and listening exercises to navigate tensions and challenges. The many facets of the exhibition work together to educate and inspire the public to appreciate the value of free expression in our society and how we can ensure its future within our democracy.
To enhance the depth and scope of Free Speech: Our Right, Our Responsibility, NLM invited scholars and experts to serve as an advisory committee, which includes: Will Creeley, Legal Director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE); Debi Ghate, President of Steadfast, Vice President of Partnerships at Gen Justice, and Executive Fellow at the State Policy Network; Amna Khalid, Associate Professor in the Department of History at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota; Kasey Meehan, the Freedom to Read Program Director at PEN America; Crystal Patterson, President and CEO of Washington Media Group; Nadine Strossen, New York Law School Professor Emerita and Senior Fellow at FIRE; and Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of History of Education at University of Pennsylvania.
The Year of Free Speech at NLM continues in February 2025 with WORD: Art, Liberty, Freedom, an ambitious juried contemporary art exhibition inviting both national and local artists into the intersection of words, language, and community. In WORD: Art, Liberty, Freedom, art is presented as a means of communication: by incorporating words and language into their work, artists transform viewers into active readers and interpreters, prompting curiosity and even dialogue across different viewpoints. Through a diverse array of mediums, including visual arts, written and spoken word, performance, and graffiti or street art, “WORD: Art, Liberty, Freedom” presents a collective challenge to forces of social moderation and censorship that seek to suppress speech in today’s climate of hyper-communication. “WORD: Art, Liberty, Freedom” opens in February 2025, with a third Year of Free Speech exhibition set to debut in May 2025.
NLM is open Thursday through Monday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission is $12 for adults, $10 for Seniors (65+), and $6 for youth ages 5 to 17. NLM members and children under 5 receive free admission. Additionally, NLM offers a range of on-site and virtual guided and group tour opportunities and can customize them on request based on areas of interest and connections to exhibition themes. All tours last approximately one hour and are suitable for adults, seniors and college students. To keep up with the museum’s upcoming programming and events, visit http://www.libertymuseum.org.
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