Four Freedoms

Remembering a better January 6

As we approach Jan. 6, some of us have indelible images in our minds from the Jan. 6, 2021 Insurrection. Let’s put those images to one side and instead commemorate Jan. 6 as the anniversary of the speech given by Franklin Delano Roosevelt listing four universal freedoms worth fighting for.

FDR’s advisor Samuel Rosenman remembered being in the room as FDR prepared for the Annual State of the Union Address on January 6, 1941. The speech went through seven drafts. In each, FDR made a case for American involvement in the war raging in Europe. According to the FDR Library (online) the president told Congress that the United States was fighting for the universal freedoms that all people possessed.

About the meeting with advisors on the fourth revision, Rosenman said, “We waited as he leaned far back in his swivel chair with his gaze on the ceiling. It was a long pause—so long that it began to become uncomfortable. Then he leaned forward again in his chair” and dictated the Four Freedoms. “He dictated the words so slowly that on the yellow pad I had in my lap I was able to take them down myself in longhand as he spoke.”

Here they are, with songs and images.

Freedom from Want

This song, Patria Y Vida, is performed byCuban patriots

In the link above, Miami-based Cuban-American musician Lilly Blanco translates the lyrics and annotates the references. Cubans have known decades of deprivation, a point which comes across in the lyrics.

Pomp and circumstance for the five hundred (years) of Havana
While at home in the pots they no longer have food
What do we celebrate if folks are scrambling …

Freedom of Speech

Oh, Freedom, The Golden Gospel Singers are singing determination, speaking out with accompanying visuals of past protests.

Freedom from Fear, Revival Chorus Joy

The Revival Chorus sings about the antithesis of fear: the joy, the strength, the love, and peace that we nurture, that can’t be taken from us.

Freedom of Worship

A tough one. There is plenty of religious music with reverence, but not explicit words about the freedom to pray. A recent piece on NPR recounting the history of Amazing Grace comes close to striking the note we wanted for January 6. After all, Judy Collins sang it to calm a New York City crowd in 1969 and President Barack Obama sang it as part of his eulogy for Pastor Clementa Pinckney, after nine people were murdered during Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Reporter Samantha Balaban concludes:

For a song with a 250-year history, the beauty of "Amazing Grace" is its ability to shapeshift. It's a religious text or not. It's a hymn or a gospel song or a folk song. It spurs protesters to march forward or calms an angry crowd. It's a song of hope or mourning or celebration. It's a song you can sing with others or listen to in the quiet of your own home.

Paul Robeson’s version

To Freedom!

Another catchy song called “Oh Freedom” to carry you into the week. Freedom is coming!

The Civil Rights activists took FDR’s words into action. For an in-depth reminder of the people and the costs they bore in the name of freedom, check out Bruce Watson’s Freedom Summer: The Savage Season that Made Mississippi Burn and Turned America into a Democracy.

More Resources

What Does Freedom Mean in the Age of Trump? (with Timothy Snyder)

The Zinn Education Project, with teaching resources on voting rights and people’s uprisings, like Standing Rock.