Rockwell lived and drew upon life that was undergoing difficult times--all around the world! On January 6th, 1941, President Roosevelt gave a speech to congress addressing some of the issues Americans, as well as people globally, were facing on a day to day basis. Within that speech, Roosevelt struck a nerve with Rockwell. He was highly inspired by a part of Roosevelt’s vision of a world that should be sharing the same four freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship God in his/her own way, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Below is a portion of the video of that speech that created four masterpieces from Normal Rockwell.

Norman Rockwell took 6 months to finish his series, Four Freedoms. Watch the video below to learn how he was inspired to illustrate what he interpreted from Roosevelt’s speech.

Below are the four illustrations of the Four Freedoms. As a family, discuss these questions.

• Can you tell which illustrations represent each freedom?
• What kind of people are celebrating those freedoms?
• What is the story of each illustration and why would it have been important during that period of time?
• Are those freedoms still a part of our lives today?
• Do you think Rockwell interpreted those freedoms in a way that can be easily understood? Why or why not?
• What is the difference between freedom and rights, and why is that important to know?

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