Voices Institute

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Where Does "We Shall Overcome" Come From?

"We shall overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe
We shall overcome, some day."

" "We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the American civil rights movement. The song is most commonly attributed as being lyrically descended from "I'll Overcome Some Day", a hymn by Charles Albert Tindley that was first published in 1901. The modern version of the song was first said to have been sung by tobacco workers led by Lucille Simmons during the 1945–1946 Charleston Cigar Factory strike in Charleston, South Carolina. Later it was published under the title "We Shall Overcome" in an edition of the People's Songs Bulletin by Pete Seeger."
                                                                                                                                   —Wikipedia

Voices Institute is Committed to Supporting
Children, Young People, and Adults
in Our Country and Around the World
to Lift Their Voices
to Overcome the Obstacles that Divide Us
and to Advocate for
a More Compassionate, Just, and Free Democratic Country and World!

Voices Institute provides two educational websites: Lift Every Voice and Voices Free Online School. The Lift Every Voice Website includes Lift Every Voice Books which provide background information on democratic values, skills, and knowledge. In the Lift Every Voice Projects, you can apply these democratic  values, skills, and knowledge to some of the most important social and ecological problems of our day. These projects conclude with delivering a speech advocating a solution to these problems. The Voices Free Online School provides Lift Every Voices Minicourses in which you can explore these democratic competencies and social and ecological problems in more depth.

What Are Lift Every Voice Books?

The Lift Every Voice Books focus on five major democratic competencies, beginning with Book 1: Democratic Values and then Book 2: Social-Emotional Skills, Book 3: Democratic Skills and Practices, Book 4: Social and Ecological Awareness, and Book 5: Democratic Knowledge.  We believe that the most important competency is the learning and applying of Democratic Values. Click here to view the Lift Every Voice website which includes both the Lift Every Voice Books and the Lift Every Voice Projects.

"We stand now where two roads diverge . . . The other folk of the road—the one less traveled by—offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assumes the preservation of the earth."<br> —From Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Slide Democratic Values, Skills, and Knowledge
"...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth."
—Gettysburg Address
Lift Every Voice
Slide 1. Democratic Values: Guide and Unite Our Country
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
—Emma Lazarus
Democratic Values, Skills, and Knowledge
Slide 2. Social and Emotional Skills: Stand in Other People's Shoes, Resolve Conflicts Non-Violently
" We will be known forever by the tracks we leave In other people's lives, our kindnesses and generosity. Take the time to walk a mile in his moccasins."
—Mary T. Lathrap
Democratic Values, Skills, and Knowledge
Slide 3. Democratic Skills and Practices: Advocate, Discuss, Debate, Negotiate
"Black Lives Matter was created as... a call to action for those who want to ...build a world where black lives do,
in fact, matter."
—Alicia Garcia
Democratic Values, Skills, and Knowledge
Slide 4. Social and Ecological Awareness: Pursue Social Justice and Ecological Balance
"We stand now where two roads diverge . . . The other folk of the road...offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination
that assumes the preservation
of the earth." —Rachel Carson
Democratic Values, Skills, Knowledge
Slide 5. Democratic Knowledge: Understand Our Democratic Rights and Protect Them
"We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms...freedom of speech... freedom...to worship
...freedom from want . . . (and)
freedom from fear . . . anywhere
in the world." —Pres. Roosevelt
Democratic Values, Skills, and Knowledge

Lift Every Voice Begins With Democratic Values

Lift Every Voice seeks to help young people and adults to understand, embrace, and apply these democratic values as they research major contemporary social an ecological problems. They can integrate them into their proposals and speeches.

"I've long talked about the battle for the soul of America. We must restore the soul of America. Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses. It is time for our better angels  to prevail." 

—Election Eve Speech by President-Elect Joe Biden (Nov. 7, 2020) 

Slide Democratic Values: Guide and Unite Our Country
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
—Emma Lazarus
Lift Every Voice
Slide 1. Love: Care for Everyone
"Love is the most durable power in the world." —Rev. Martin Luther King Democratic Values
Slide 2. Freedom: Pursue Your Dreams, Help Others to Pursue Theirs
"The secret of our success is that we never, never give up." —Wilma Mankiller Democratic Values
Slide 3. Equality: Treat Everyone With Resped
"... a veteran, a mayor, happily married, asking for you to vote for me to be president of United States."
—Pres. Candidate
Pete Buttigieg
Democratic Values
Slide 4. Justice: Protect the Rights of Everyone
"When I'm sometimes asked 'When will there be enough (women on the Supreme Court)?'and my answer is:
'When there are nine.'
—Former SCJ Ruth B. Ginsburg
Democratic Values
Slide 5. Truth: Seek
and Speak the Truth
"Only the truth has the power to lead us to the beauty we seek in our democracy."
—Former Cong. John Lewis
Democratic Values
Slide 6. Care for Nature: Protect the Earth
". . . Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a
sincere love for our fellow
human beings..."
—Pope Francis
Democratic Values
Slide 7. Peace: Live in Harmony With Others
"We can...build a great union that will secure the spirit of all people if we do it through a re-dedication and re-commitment
to the struggle for justice through
non-violence." —Cesar Chavez
Democratic Values
Slide 8. Democracy: Vote and Participate in Governing Our Country
"We know in our heart of hearts that voting
is a sacred right - the fount
from which all other rights flow."
—Stacy Abrams
Democratic Values

What Are Lift Every Voice Projects?

Lift Every Voice is designed to help people to learn and master these core democratic competencies and then apply these values, skills, and knowledge to advocating for ways to solve major social and ecological problems in our country and world. These are just four of the many problems that we need to solve. They are just the beginning.

"And as we lay you to rest today, the movement won't rest until we get justice, until we have one standard of justice. Your family is going to miss you, George, but your nation is going to always remember your name because your neck was one that represented all of us and how you suffered represented our suffering . . . " 

—Eulogy for George Floyd by Rev. Al Sharpton 

Slide Social and Ecological Problems
Slide Stop the Pandemic
Social and Ecological Problems Social and Ecological Problems Social and Ecological Problems 600,000 Dead in the United States By the End of May!
Slide Stop Gun Violence
40,000 Dead Every Year From Gun Violence! Social and Ecological Problems
Slide Stop Global Warming
Temperatures will continue to rise! More droughts! More Hurricanes! Sea level will rise 1-8 feet! Arctice will be ice free! Social and Ecological Problems
Slide Stop Police Violence
1,127 Persons Were Killed by Police in 2020! Social and Ecological Problems

Eight Steps for Lifting Our Voices

Lift Every Voice Projects are organized into Eight Steps. In Step 1: Connect to the Problem you can explore what you know or have experienced about the problem. In Step 2: Compare and Evaluate Case Studies, you try to get a handle on the problem by delving into case studies of the problem. While in Step 3: Analyze the Data, the objective is to get a broad understanding of all the facts related to the problem, then in Step 4: Listen to and Share Stories, you can listen to the stories of those affected by the problem and share your own study. Step 5: Listen to and Read Proposals begins the process of choosing your proposal by getting a broad understanding of state and local legislative proposals as well as the proposals of advocacy organizations. In Step 6: Develop and Present Your Proposal, you will develop your proposal, write out your speech, and deliver your speech on video. After that in Step 7: Discuss and Debate Proposals, you can listen to and discuss other people's speech and see if you can reach a compromise and common ground on how to solve the problem. Finally in Step 8: Lift Your Voice, Cast Your Votes, you will have the opportunity to vote on all the proposals and to lobby elected officials to support your proposal.  

What Are Lift Every Voice Minicourses?

The Voices Free Online School is being developed by Voices Institute to provide free digital resources and minicourses to young people in the United States and around the world that can help them learn how to create, maintain, and improve their democratic institutions and culture. 

Presently, some of these courses can be viewed. Hopefully they will all be available by Fall 2023.

Voices Provides Free Digital Resources and Minicourses

Lift Every Voice provides free digital resources which can help young people and adults to learn about these democratic competencies and then how to lift their voices to advocate solutions to major social and ecological problems in our society. All educational materials can be shared, downloaded, and embedded on their computers. Click on the buttons below to get to the Lift Every Voice Website where you can delve into Lift Every Voice Books and Lift Every Voice Projects. Click on the Voices Free Online School website to review the Lift Every Voice Minicourses.

How Can We Save
and Build Our Democratic Country?

By Advocating for a More Compassionate, Just,
and Free Democratic Country and World!

We envision young people and adults anywhere being able to go online and listen to empowering stories and speeches,  share their own stories, deliver their own speeches, and discuss their thoughts with other young people and adults about the best ways to create more compassionate, just, peaceful, and free democratic governments and societies.

Hopefully, Lift Every Voice will help us save and strengthen and improve our democracies.

 

The better angels of our nature are the democratic values that we embrace and which can guide us as we seek to heal and unite our country!

"Our history is defined by the youthful push to make America more just, more compassionate, more equal under the law. This generation–of Parkland of Dreamers, of Black Lives Matter– embraces that duty. If they make their elders uncomfortable, that's how it should be. Our kids now show us what we've told them America is all about, even if we haven't always believed it ourselves: that our future isn't written for us, but by us."

—Excerpted from "Cameron Kasky, Jaclyn Corin, David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez, and Alex Wind" by Barack Obama. Time Magazine (12/12/18)

How Can We Support the Growth of Democracy?

How Can We Save Our Democracy?

How Can We Restore the Soul of America?

You can support the growth of democracy in our country and around the world by helping young people and adults anywhere gain free online access  to Lift Every Voice.

Lift Every Voice can help young people and adults to master core democratic competencies with a primary emphasis on using their voices to tell their stories and to deliver speeches advocating for ways to create a more just and democratic society wherever they live.

The mastery of these competencies can empower young people to overcome the social obstacles in their lives, to attain important personal goals, and to contribute to creating more compassionate, just, and free societies.

The growth of democracy in any one country is limited by the growth of democracy worldwide.

The growth of democracy anywhere fosters the growth of democracy everywhere.