Language & Liberty: 250 Years of America

As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Planet Word launches Language & Liberty, a new 2026 series exploring how the words of American freedom have shaped our democracy — from “Give me liberty or give me death” to “Black Lives Matter.” Through monthly talks, we’ll trace how slogans, speeches, and lyrics have given voice to the nation’s ideals and struggles across generations.

To deepen the conversation, we’ve curated a collection of resources inviting you to reflect on 250 years of American history — its triumphs, its failures, and the promises that continue to call us forward.

Featured Programs

Series

Language & Liberty: Poetry as Civic Inheritance with Tracy K. Smith

April 11, 2026
5:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m.

$15.00 | Friedman Family Auditorium

History is never truly settled when the words that built it are still alive; yet in an age of division, our founding texts can often feel like a “dead” archive.…

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Series

Language & Liberty: Restoring Integrity in Civil Discourse with Alexander Heffner

May 7, 2026
6:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.

$15.00 | Friedman Family Auditorium

How can citizens, government, technology platforms, and the press build bridges and restore integrity in public policy? Join historian and journalist Alexander Heffner as he discusses the history and future…

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Featured Past Program

United and Divided We Stand: Insights from Crossing America with Judy Woodruff

November 18, 2024
6:30 p.m.- 7:30 p.m.

Join Judy Woodruff, PBS Senior Correspondent and former NewsHour anchor, as she delivers the inaugural Patty Isacson Sabee Fellow lecture at Planet Word. Judy will explore media, democracy, and the power of…

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Featured Past Program

How the Word is Passed with Clint Smith

February 1, 2022
8:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.

When poet and Atlantic staff writer Clint Smith set out to explore how the history of American slavery is interpreted and memorialized, he did so with an open mind and…

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Words Matter, Stories Matter

Poets lend voices to current events and elections as they critique and defend the social and political issues of their day. Explore this collection of poetry, articles, podcasts, and more curated by the Poetry Foundation.

Explore the collection

Cookouts, fireworks, and history lessons abound in this collection of poems, articles, and podcasts curated by the Poetry Foundation.

Explore the collection

Explore the history of the United States as told in the stories of immigrants, refugees, and exiles in this collection of poems, articles, and more curated by the Poetry Foundation.

Explore the collection
From the Founder

Language, Liberty & the Weight of America’s 250th Anniversary

Planet Word Founder Ann Friedman shares her concerns and hopes for our nation’s Semiquincentennial: “I hope you’ll join the conversation in the coming months, culminating on the Fourth of July…Together with our neighbors we will think again upon America’s promise, marvel at its natural beauty, and vow once again to live up to the words of the remarkable Declaration we have been entrusted to preserve.”

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From the Advisory Board

The Sound of 1776: What the Language in our Founding Documents Reveals

What can our founding documents reveal about the way people used language at the time of the American Revolution? In this guest blog post, linguist and Planet Word Advisory Board member Anne Curzan uncovers the surprising word choices, spelling quirks, and linguistic debates woven into the Declaration of Independence.

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Fun with Words

Nine Everyday Sayings That Are a Total Home Run (Thanks to Baseball)

Baseball isn’t just America’s pastime — it’s a linguistic MVP. Over the past 150 years, the sport has given us phrases we use every day, even without ever stepping foot inside a stadium, like “in the right ballpark” and “step up to the plate.” Explore nine of our favorite baseball-inspired idioms that have made it into everyday American speech!

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Language Matters

Linguistic Diversity in the District and the “D.C. Dialect”: Q&A with Natalie Schilling

Is the word “moe” in your vocabulary? How about “jhi”? Explore the “D.C. Dialect” and the linguistic and cultural diversity of the DMV area in our Q&A with Natalie Schilling, the co-founder of Georgetown University’s Language and Communication in Washington, D.C. project.

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