The New Jersey Council for the Humanities has successfully launched the “We the People” initiative in Perth Amboy in collaboration with The Bard College Clemente Course in the Humanities and the Jewish Renaissance Foundation. This college-level interdisciplinary course, focused on the theme of “American Freedom,” is designed for adults whose socio-economic circumstances keep them from pursuing or completing traditional routes to higher education. Students in the program explore American history, literature, art history, and philosophy, and receive writing instruction. Bard College awards six college credits to students who complete the course at a high level of academic performance. “We the People”/Clemente students meet one night each week over an eight month period, receiving 110 hours of instruction.

NJCH views its support of the Perth Amboy program as important outreach to an underserved population for whom immersion in the humanities can make a vital difference. Passionate and experienced college professors provide instruction in the humanities. The Clemente Course eliminates many of the barriers that may hinder the pursuit of a college degree. Not only is the program offered tuition free, but books, carfare, and childcare are provided.

The ideal of freedom has been an enduring cultural bond among Americans since the founding of the nation. But what does “freedom” mean, and how has it changed over time? What are its philosophical origins? How has it been used in speeches, poetry, and the visual arts? From Phillis Wheatley’s poetry describing her “love of freedom” to Thomas Jefferson’s insistence on the “freedom of the press” during the Early Republic, from Thomas Crawford’s sculpture the “Statue of Freedom” standing atop the Capitol’s dome to Abraham Lincoln’s observations of a “new birth of freedom” following the Civil War, from Norman Rockwell's paintings of “The Four Freedoms” during World War II to the “Freedom Rides” by young black and white civil rights activists in the early 1960s, from the “Jobs and Freedom” marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the internet homepages of self-described “Freedom fighters” in the 1990s, freedom has been expressed in a multitude of forms over the course of American history.

These and other questions and issues are discussed and analyzed in the "We the People" course. To apply to the program in Perth Amboy, please contact:

Dr. Omar H. Ali, Program Director
c/o Ms. Lourdes Illa, 732-324-2114 (ext. 105)
The Jewish Renaissance Foundation
149 Kearny Avenue, Perth Amboy, NJ  08861

The New Jersey Council for the Humanities hopes to expand the Clemente Course in the Humanities to other cities in the state.