The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's mission is to defend and sustain the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty.

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Collage showing Woodrow Wilson, Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, and Thomas Paine around the words "Figures of Speech"

WATCH VIDEO: The Senator Who Started a Witch Hunt | How Joseph McCarthy built his career on explosive accusations, including the claim that communists had infiltrated the U.S. government.

Figures of Speech

History

As America marks 250 years of independence, it's time to look back at the moments that tested the freedoms at the heart of the American experiment. FIRE is proud to present the limited series “Figures of Speech” — looking at the heroes and villains of free speech in American history.

EXPLORE AMERICA'S FIGURES OF SPEECH

YouTube thumbnail graphic showing Charlie Kirk in black and white against a red background showing the text where he was assassinated.

WATCH VIDEO: FIRE sits down with students who witnessed the Charlie Kirk shooting and explores a question that now confronts the nation: Is free speech the cause of political violence, or the only alternative to it?

Charlie Kirk’s death and the fight for free speech

FIRE Documentary

After the murder of Charlie Kirk at a Turning Point USA campus event, the country was left debating the future of free speech. Featuring firsthand accounts, difficult conversations, and an unflinching look at the First Amendment, FIRE asks what it really means to coexist in a country where disagreements are not small, and sometimes are life and death.

Our Issues

FIRE defends and promotes the individual rights of all Americans in our courtrooms, on our campuses, and in our culture.

WHAT WE DEFEND

Defending Your Rights

FIRE defends and sustains the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the essential qualities of liberty — and carries out this mission through several core services.

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Support the Fight for Free Speech

Get Involved

Help us build a new free speech movement and promote a strong culture of free speech by supporting FIRE with a donation today. Please join us in this important work!

Donate to FIRE

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