Created by the American Heritage Foundation to foster democracy and patriotism, the Freedom Train toured in 1947–49, early Cold War years.

Ironically, the tour exposed racial segregation. The streamliner locomotive (red, white, and blue locomotive with a 1776 logo) carried the Bill of Rights and other documents on liberty for public viewings. It traveled more than 33,000 miles, stopping in every state. Business and civic leaders, its main boosters, popularized the slogan “Freedom Is Everybody's Job.” At some stops, notably in southern states, Jim Crow was the rule. But many black communities protested. Poet Langston Hughes captured their protests in “Freedom Train” (1947), stating “What shall I tell my children? ... You tell me–Cause freedom ain't freedom when a man ain't free.”