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Voices of Democracy promotes the study of great speeches and public debates in the humanities undergraduate classroom. The project is designed to provide reliable, authenticated primary texts and contextual and interpretive materials under seven deliberative topics: Citizenship, Civil Rights, Freedom of Speech, Religion and Public Life, Social and Economic Justice, U.S. Internationalism, and War and Peace. Voices of Democracy represents a collaborative and interdisciplinary project involving scholars from Penn State University and the University of Maryland, College Park.

  • Portrait of César Chávez, leader of the United Farm Workers

    Chavez in a black shirt, sitting down with his hand out and speaking
  • Portrait of civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer

    Fannie Lou Hamer in a black and white photo, sitting with a microphone and speaking
  • Mario Savio delivers a speech before a crowd at UC Berkeley

    Mario Savio standing and speaking in a black and white photo. Wearing a suit and holding a piece of paper outside in front of a big, white building