"The Meaning of Freedom"

The Meaning of Freedom
Curated by Kheilah Short (age 12)

Freedom is letting people do what they want to do. It is not forcing them to do what they don’t want to do. Freedom is the right to say what you want, and do what you want, and be what you want.

Slaves were forced to be slaves and couldn’t do what they wanted to do. They weren’t treated like they were supposed to be-- with respect, with kindness, and fairness. They had to do work and care for other people and they had to care for themselves too.
Now we’re free. We can care for ourselves. We can be who we want to be, say what we want to say, and do what we want to do as long as we make the right decisions.

In the summer and fall of 2008, some of us from ABLE took some pictures in Cincinnati and Washington, DC. The purpose was to teach them about our history and how hard it was for slaves. They learned more than they thought they would. They are very grateful because people took time out of their lives to set slaves free. Your life would be so hard if you had to work for other people for the rest of your life.

I hope that through these photos, you will learn more about slaves and how they used to live, and how you should be grateful for what you have now, like not wanting more expensive things. I want you to know that we teens actually care about our history.
I chose these photos because I think they represent freedom and unity. I got the quotes from other pictures that students took. How I matched them to the photos is because the pictures seem to represent what the quotes mean.