Earning the Medal of Freedom

The Presidential Medal of Freedom [2] is the highest honor that the U.S. government awards to civilians. Presidents select a handful of people each year who have made significant contributions in national security, world peace, promoting culture or “other significant public or private endeavors.”

This year’s medals will be presented to 15 distinguished people on Tuesday, Feb. 15. Among the list of honorees are some names that are familiar here at Teaching Tolerance. They include:

• Congressman John Lewis, the civil rights pioneer who was instrumental in organizing student sit-ins, bus boycotts and non-violent protests in the fight for racial equality. He endured a savage beating by an angry mob as a Freedom Rider in 1961. In 1965, Alabama state troopers beat him yet again during the Selma-to-Montgomery march. In 2008, the congressman reflected on the state of civil rights for Teaching Tolerance in his article Reflections on a Dream Deferred [3].

• Author Maya Angelou, who was also active in the civil rights movement, serving as the northern coordinator for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Angelou has become a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian and filmmaker. Last year, Angelou graciously helped Teaching Tolerance by allowing her poem “Still I Rise” to be used as the theme song to the movie Bullied: A Student, a School, and a Case That Made History [4].

• Gerda Weissmann Klein, who barely survived the Holocaust before being liberated by U.S. troops in Czechoslovakia in 1945. In the years since, Klein has become a U.S. citizen, human rights activist, philanthropist and author. She founded Citizen Counts, a program designed to engage students in civics education, increase tolerance and develop a greater appreciation for citizenship. Her message of hope and humanity is evidenced in her books, through public appearances and on film. Her story is the focus of the Academy Award-winning Teaching Tolerance documentary One Survivor Remembers [5].  

The awarding of the Medal of Freedom is a great time to talk to students about their dreams for the future. All 15 of the honorees made great contributions to American life. The three spotlighted here had to overcome large—often dangerous—obstacles to do so. When they started out, few would have guessed that these three would one day stand in the White House and be congratulated by the president. Yet they have had a tremendous impact on the world.

Have your students look 50 years into the future. How might they win their own Presidential Medals of Freedom?

Price is managing editor of Teaching Tolerance.