Bush Presidential Museum exhibit explores freedom
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A copy of the Declaration of Independence is displayed in the Freedom Matters exhibit. Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Kaufmann / George W. Bush Presidential Center
A special exhibit at the George W. Bush Presidential Museum examines what it means to be free in the United States and worldwide.
Why it matters: Dallas is home to one of 13 presidential museums in the country.
- The museum and library on the SMU campus gives insight into the eight years of George W. Bush's presidency, including the contested 2000 election and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
State of display: A special exhibit, Freedom Matters, features a 14th-century copy of the Magna Carta, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
- Artifacts and newspaper clippings tell the story of struggle for equality in America, from slavery to women's suffrage to the Civil Rights Movement. The exhibit also covers the internment of Japanese Americans in the U.S. during World War II.
The intrigue: The display also features Abraham Lincoln's first recorded arguments against slavery. The remarkably well-preserved note details Lincoln's opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, a prelude to the Civil War.
- "You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own," Lincoln writes.
Fun activity: An interactive section allows visitors to pick up a puck that states an action, like "run for office," and decide whether that action is a personal, political or economic freedom.
- If you get it right, a checkmark will light up green.
If you go: Freedom Matters will be at the museum through Dec. 31.
- The museum is open 9am-5pm Monday through Saturday and noon-5pm Sundays. Adult tickets are $26.