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Upstander
A person who speaks or acts in support of an individual or cause, particularly someone who intervenes on behalf of a person being attacked or bullied.
We believe every student can become an upstander, whether by challenging negative stereotypes with family, standing up to a bully in their school, or encouraging civil discourse when neighbors disagree. Students in Facing History classrooms learn about the power of individual choices to shape history and explore how each of us can participate as citizens to create a more humane, just and compassionate world. With the readings and resources collected below, we invite you and your students to discover what it means to be an Upstander.
![Cartoon of speaker and audience.](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_656.jpg)
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![Student-led teaching session takes places in a classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_480/public/2022-09/Chicago_Student_Led_Teaching_2019_FH2101429.jpg?itok=Phye7o2F)
What Difference Can a Word Make?
What encourages people to act on behalf of others? Do words have the power to influence the choices people make? In 2014, two New Jersey high-school students began a campaign to promote a word, upstander, that gave a name to a behavior that is crucial for building stronger communities and a more humane world. Read and share “What Difference Can a Word Make?” and consider what encourages people to act on behalf of others.
Upstander Stories
Bullying at School
![Diverse hands reaching to sun.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/reaching_344329793_o.jpg?h=d614c65a&itok=f-2GB-lE)
What it Takes to Be an Upstander
![The word "FEAR" is being erased from a blackboard.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Fear_graphic_iStock-1173054581.jpeg?h=140710cd&itok=Rcq7IWi9)
Young Poll Workers as Upstanders
![Ballot submission.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/Ballot_Submission.jpeg?h=64bf5bba&itok=gQHEAEFF)
Meet the History-Makers of Tomorrow
![A number of hands are brought into the center of the picture and stacked on one another.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/HandsIn.jpg?h=ec041e41&itok=HuzsU4rM)
Leaving a Positive Footprint
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_949.jpg)
How to Be an Upstander: Acting against Indifference
![A close up of a marble statue with hands clasped together.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Against_indifference_1440x560.jpeg?h=b1512c13&itok=ZU2fAuwn)
If Not Me
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1764.jpg)
Yellow Fever Upstanders
![Three nuns are featured on the Memphis Upstanders Mural, a painting on a brick building in Memphis, TN.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/YellowFeverUpstanders_FH249659.jpg?h=cd7d7283&itok=MOKc8y-G)
A Young Upstander Stands Up to Hate
![Students participate in a group activity.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2015_20150813_TreyClark_0419_FH221009.jpg?h=2f6148de&itok=YBxcFD7A)
On Educating Upstanders - Ervin Staub
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1695.jpg)
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