What does freedom mean to you today?
Regularly based in our Nation’s Capital, The Dap Project sojourned to their second home on Martha’s Vineyard and invited community members to consider the question: “What does freedom mean to you today?” This inquiry is timed to mark 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, a date 89 years before our enslaved ancestors in Texas learned of their freedom on Juneteenth, and 900 days after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. As the work of Angela Davis and our nation's history has proven, Freedom Is A Constant Struggle. How do we define independence, emancipation, and freedom in the present moment?
Share your perspective at the Mariposa Museum, located on Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs, during Summer 2026, and explore what members of the Martha’s Vineyard community have contributed.
Want to engage virtually? Tell us what freedom means to you today at the link below.
Through art, words and photography: Ponder the question, "What does freedom mean to you today?"
Tell us your meaning of freedom.
In 2026, the United States commemorates 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The document proclaimed freedom from British rule, and, notably, that “all men are created equal.” In practice, “all” referred to white male property owners. Excluded were poor people, women, free and enslaved people of African descent, and Indigenous people. Consequently, the two and a half centuries since the signing has been an ongoing examination of what freedom means to these specific communities. So we ask ...