Today at America’s Town Hall

National First Amendment Summit

Wednesday, September 13 | 5:30–8 p.m. ET

Join the National Constitution Center, in partnership with a coalition of leading free speech organizations, for a National First Amendment Summit to address the increasing threats to freedom of expression and to celebrate the opening of the Center’s new First Amendment gallery.

To lead off the event, author and free-speech advocate Salman Rushdie will participate in a virtual keynote conversation with PEN America’s Suzanne Nossel about the importance of free speech in a democratic society and the forces of censorship that imperil its existence, followed by a series of panels with America’s leading First Amendment thinkers.

About the First Amendment Gallery

The National Constitution Center just opened a new First Amendment gallery. Protecting some of our most cherished freedoms—religious liberty, free speech, a free press, the freedom of assembly, and the right to petition—the First Amendment is a pillar of democracy and the American way.

The 1,500-square-foot exhibit features more than 20 artifacts highlighting all five freedoms, including a draft opinion with handwritten edits from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis; an anti-Vietnam War armband worn by the Tinker family and associated with the landmark student speech case, Tinker v. Des Moines; The New York Times’ 1971 publication of the classified “Pentagon Papers;” and a pennant from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The First Amendment is made possible through the generous underwriting of The George Family Foundation and Lilly Endowment Inc. and through the generous support of The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and The McLean Contributionship. Learn more about the gallery

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