On Sunday, November 15, at 4 pm, local organizations will host a free Zoom lecture on “The Four Freedoms: From Roosevelt to Norman Rockwell.”

The lecture will be delivered by Robin Hoffman and Jodi Stiffelman of ArtScapades. Anne Oppermann, Norman Rockwell’s former secretary and historian in Stockbridge, Mass., will share personal stories and letters about Rockwell.

The program is sponsored by Joy Hoffman/The Joy of Art and Newtown Congregational Church.

On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his eighth State of the Union Address to Congress. At the end of the speech he outlined what would be known as the Four Freedoms, the four basic elements of freedom that all humans in the world ought to have access to: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom of Want, and the Freedom of Fear.

One result of that speech was the inspiration it provided to the American artist Norman Rockwell. The following year he embarked on his own project to illustrate Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms.

Rockwell created four paintings depicting simple family scenes, illustrating freedoms Americans often take for granted. In 1943 his paintings were published in four consecutive issues of The Saturday Evening Post. The paintings, according to The Norman Rockwell Museum, “were a phenomenal success.”

The lecture on November 15, which is expected to run one hour, will explain why understanding FDR and Rockwell’s Freedoms are timeless themes today.

The community is invited to illustrate their own ideas of freedom, mimicking the classic covers of The Saturday Evening Post. Drawings should be done on 8½ by 11-inch paper, and then delivered by November 17 to Newtown Community Center, 8 Simpson Street.

The collection will then be displayed on the “Freedom Wall.”

Registration is required for the lecture, and can be done by sending an e-mail to newcong@sbcglobal.net. A link to the lecture will be sent back as registration confirmation.

The lecture will be suitable for all ages.