Moral Courage Project
This project aims to tell the stories of “upstanders” (those who refuse to be bystanders) to identify and celebrate individuals who take risks to make important contributions to their communities during moments of crisis. In all communities, there are individuals who stand up on behalf of others in danger regardless of the risk. These people embody moral courage yet are often left out of history. This project trains students to take testimony and engage in human rights storytelling. These skills coupled with the opportunity to conduct fieldwork provide students with valuable and transformative experiences.
Working with partners enables support to organizations on the front lines. The Moral Courage project develops multi-platform, multi-media products that utilize audio recordings, photography, music, and writing to bring stories to life.
2020: Poison & Power
During the summer of 2020, the Moral Courage Team focused on the right to access clean water in multiple locations, including Flint and Detroit, Michigan, and Appalachia.
Visit Poison & Power2018: El Paso, Texas
2018: El Paso, Texas Moral Courage project students traveled to El Paso, Texas to interview and photograph human rights advocates, community leaders and faith leaders about their commitment to immigration rights work at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Visit America the Borderland
2016: Ferguson Voices
The people of Ferguson have a story to tell – and one that the majority of those in the United States have not heard or fully understood. The 12 stories captured in Ferguson Voices are a testament not only to the systemic discrimination that the Ferguson protests laid bare, but also to the power of transformative action taken to foster community, accountability and justice.
Visit Ferguson VoicesFerguson Voices Curriculum
A high school curriculum from the Moral Courage Project, the Ferguson Voices curriculum is grounded by the notion that our identities, experiences, and biases should be openly shared and discussed, since they deeply inform how we perceive the world.
Learn MorePoison and Power Curriculum
A high school curriculum from the Moral Courage Project, the Poison and Power curriculum is grounded learning to identify the contributing factors to the water crises in Flint, Detroit, and Martin County and recognize how the impacted communities responded.
Learn moreMoral Courage On Campus
Students enrolled in three courses (HRS200, VAH428, POL431) worked on a collaborative multimedia project inspired by the the Moral Courage Project. Through an open nomination process, the UD campus community put forward names of people who exemplify "moral courage".
Explore
After a semester of prepping for in-person fieldwork in Appalachia, and Detroit and Flint, Michigan, the Moral Courage Project on access to clean water switches gears to remote fieldwork in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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In an op-ed published June 5 in Flyer News, Mary McLoughlin reflects on her time in El Paso, Texas, documenting the experience of the US-Mexican border in an attempt to disrupt the current narratives around immigration and humanize contentious issues.
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