The Matthew Freeman Memorial Lecture and Book Collection
Mansfield Institute for Social Justice

2nd Annual Matthew Freeman Lecture, April 24, 2005

Matthew Freeman was a sweet, generous, warm and caring child who became a sweet, generous, warm and caring adult. Certainly his passion for and commitment to social justice was rooted in the values and beliefs with which he was raised, those of his parents and larger family, but they were also uniquely of Matt.

He wanted, and was willing to work and struggle for, a world with true justice, equity, and fairness, a society in which communal and governmental resources were used to help the most needy, weak, poor, and powerless to achieve sufficiency, dignity, and self-efficacy, rather to further enrich and aggrandize the already powerful. He did not, however, accept any position, "solution" or value without criticism.

Brilliant and analytical he believed that there could be no "objective truth" separate from the values of the person perceiving it. Matthew searched for "truths" consistent with a set of explicit values he held and solutions that were pragmatic and contextual.

Much of his essence came from his warm and loving heart along with a philosophical and political commitment to universal human dignity. Given all these principles, a commitment to social justice in housing, health care, access to the range of goods and services followed naturally.

Like most of us, he was struggling for practical answers to overwhelmingly large problems - in his case, by looking at and thinking closely about a significant local case of gentrification and displacement, around Cabrini Green and other disappearing projects.

He was sharp, perceptive and inclined to think about the decision-making process critically, and he would have gone on to challenge some basic assumptions operating in the provision of public and subsidized housing (and the world may have never needed critical thinkers so badly as now...!).

Shortly after his untimely death, friends and family gathered with students, faculty, and administrators in a graduation ceremony during which his parents accepted his degree, with honors, from Roosevelt University.

Through the support of Matthew's parents we are now able to gather and honor the memory, social justice struggles and values that Matthew carried forward in the world. We are given the opportunity to continue his legacy through the Annual Matthew Freeman Lecture series and the library resource and book collection.

Heather M. Dalmage, PhD
Director, Mansfield Institute for Social Justice Associate Professor of Sociology Roosevelt
University 430 South Michigan Ave Chicago, IL 60605
312-341-3692