Resources for the Four Freedoms and Beyond Project

Below you will find a lengthy, wide-ranging list of articles, websites, books, videos, and quotes Midwest Partners utilized as resources in putting together “The Four Freedoms and Beyond” project. While only some of these items will make an appearance at our events, all of them informed this project in some fashion.

News and Website Resources

Please note this is an ever-evolving list of resources that we will continue to add to as we progress through this project.

Best Sources for Norman Rockwell Art

• The Norman Rockwell Museum

• Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms from the Norman Rockwell Museum

• Norman Rockwell Prints

• The Saturday Evening Post

Norman Rockwell & President Roosevelt

• “FDR and the Four Freedoms Speech.” Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

• “Norman Rockwell: A Brief Biography.” Norman Rockwell Museum.

• Norman Rockwell’s 323 Saturday Evening Post Covers from the Norman Rockwell Museum

• Complete edition of the Saturday Evening Post, 20 Feb. 1943 featuring the essay “Freedom of Speech” by Booth Tarkington and the painting Freedom of Speech by Norman Rockwell, from the Norman Rockwell Museum.

• The Four Freedoms Essays from The Saturday Evening Post written by Booth Tarkington, Will Durant, Carlos Bulosan, and Stephen Vincent Benet, originally printed in February and March, 1943.

Critical Analysis of Norman Rockwell

• “White on White: Hidden Race in Rockwell’s ‘Freedom From Want.’” Artlark. 6 Mar 2022.

• “Norman Rockwell’s Turkey Feast is a Thanksgiving Touchstone - Here are 3 Things You Might Not Know About ‘Freedom from Want.’” by Katie White. Artnet. 26 Nov. 2020.

• Reimagining Norman Rockwell’s America by Laura M. Holson. New York Times. 8 Nov. 2018. 

• Why Norman Rockwell left Thanksgiving Americana behind By Andrew L. Yarrow. Washington Post. 24 Nov. 2021.

• “What is Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving Picture Really About?” by Bob Duggan. Big Think. 27 Nov. 2013. 

• “Norman Rockwell’s ‘Four Freedoms’ Brought the Ideals of America to Life.” by Alice George. Smithsonian Magazine. 23 Feb. 2018.

• “Rockwell’s ‘Four Freedoms’ remain as relevant today as they were in 1943.” by Jennifer Huberdeau. The Berkshire Eagle. 19 Oct 2020.

• “Mi Gosh and By-heck: Deborah Solomon’s life of Norman Rockwell, whose art looked back to an America that never was.” by Ben Davis. Slate. 6 Nov. 2013.

• “A 21st-Century Reimagining of Norman Rockwell’s ‘Four Freedoms.’” by Abigail Tucker. Smithsonian Magazine. Mar 2018.

• “Norman Rockwell + ‘The Problem We All Live With’: Learn why a controversial painting became a symbol of the American civil rights movement.” by Amy Pastan. The Kennedy Center. 31 Jan. 2022. 

• “The Problem We All Live With and the political awakening of Norman Rockwell.” by Tom Carson. Vox. 26 Feb 2020.

• “Norman Rockwell’s ‘The Problem We All Live With,’ a Groundbreaking Civil Rights Painting.” by Kelly Richman-Abdou. My Modern Net. 27 Mar 2019.

• “Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera.” Huntsville Museum of Art. 2017.

• “Why Norman Rockwell Matters.” by Alexxa Gotthardt. Artsy. 1 Jun 2018.

• “Rockwell’s Four Freedoms.” by Patrick Perry. Saturday Evening Post. 5 Jan 2018.

• “The Lost Masterpieces of Norman Rockwell Country.” by Felix Salmon. The New Yorker. 4 Oct 2017.

What We Think About When We Think About

The Four Freedoms

• “With Four Freedoms, Four Responsibilities: A Defense of Democratic Values.” By Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation. 

• History of Title IX from the Women’s Sports Foundation.

• “How to Show White Men that Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Need Them,” By Lily Zheng. Harvard Business Review. 28 Oct  2019.

• “Why does the world reward mediocre white men?” By Chidozie Obasi. Bazaar Magazine. 1 Feb. 2021.

• “What are we talking about when we talk about white men?” By Roland Clark. openDemocracy. 15 Oct 2020.

• “America Needs Some Repairs. Here’s Where to Start” New York Times Editorial Board. 2 July 2020. 

• “White Noise, White Silence: Who Gets to Be Loud in Today’s America?” by Kelly Coyne. Literary Hub. 17 Dec. 2020.

• “What is DACA and who are the Dreamers?” by Joanna Walters. The Guardian. 14 Sep 2017.

• “11 Facts About Free Speech.” DoSomething.org.

• “The Exploitation of ‘Freedom’ in America.” by Elizabeth Anker. New York Times. 4 Feb. 2022. 

• “America Has a Free Speech Problem.” New York Times Editorial Board. 18 Mar 2022. 

• “The Blind Spot in This Land is Your Land.” by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. NPR. 3 Feb 2021. 

• “What Exactly does it mean to be a patriot? Experts say it’s not easy to define.” by Amir Vera. CNN. 30 Jan. 2021.

• “Ten Fun Facts About the Original Patriots.” by Lorraine Boissoneault. Smithsonian Magazine. 3 Feb. 2017. 

• “Patriotism.” by Igor Primoratz. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 16 Dec. 2020.

• “How Americans View Muslims - And What They Don’t See.” by Erica Machulak. National Endowment for the Humanities. Summer 2016, Volume 37, Number 3. 

• “Muslims are a growing presence in U.S., but still face negative views from the public.” by Besheer Mohamed. Pew Research Center. 1 Sept 2021.

• “The 1940s-1950s: A Return to Assimilation and Away From Cross Cultural Training.” Native Partnership.org.

The United States Census: 1940 & 2020

• “1940-2010: How Has America Changed?” United States Census Bureau. 

• “It’s Your America: The 1940 Census Today.” by Collin Makamson. The National WWII Museum. 21 May 2020. May 21, 2020.

• “Census: US sees unprecedented multiracial growth, decline in the white population for the first time in history.” by Mabinty Quarshie and Donovan Slack. USA Today. 12 Aug 2021.

• “What The New Census Data Shows About Race Depends on How You Look At It.” by Connie Hanzhang Jin, Ruth Talbot, Hansi Lo Wang. NPR. 13 Aug 2021.

• The 2020 Census Suggests That People Live Underwater. There’s a Reason. by Michael Wines. New York Times. 21 Apr 2022.