In five pages definitions and concepts of freedom are considered as they are represented in The Chosen by Chaim Potok, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and the 'I Have a Dream' speech by Martin Luther King Jr. Three sources are cited in the bibliography.
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1800s, freedom meant not having to answer to a "Master" and to earn money and obtain property in a rightful fashion. A century later, "freedom" to African Americans meant the
freedom to participate in life on a level playing field, and not be judged by color or race. The concept in both of these cases is the same, however -
it involves freedom to decide for oneself the direction of ones life without interference from a higher authority. While much of
this paper will be based on African-American issues, we will also examine another case of freedom in Chaim Potoks novel, The Chosen, which involves the story of a young Jewish
boy who is not allowed to choose his own destiny because of centuries of family tradition. Much like the African-Americans of the 19th and 20th centuries, this young man eventually
finds his freedom, but not without a lot of struggle and heartache. Possibly one of the most moving and memorable messages of
freedom was announced by Martin Luther King Jr., which was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963 (King). This was the famous
"I Have a Dream" speech, in which King lambasted the United States for forbidding the Negroes to be free people (King). "We can never be satisfied as long as our
bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of highways and hotels of the cities," King announced (King). "We can never be satisfied as long
as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote" (King).