Multiple Voices

It’s the idea held by generations of citizens who believed that America is a constant work in progress; who believed that loving this country requires more than singing its praises or avoiding uncomfortable truths. It requires the occasional disruption, the willingness to speak out for what is right, to shake up the status quo. That’s America. President Barack Obama. Remarks delivered on the 50th anniversary of the Selma marches, March 7, 2015.

Patriotic Immigrants Wave The American Flag, 1919. Pond5.

Toward the Horizon . African American graduates, 1930s. King Rose Archives/Global ImageWorks.

Naturalization ceremony, 1962. Pond5.

Waving child, 1970s. Pond5.

Family in their backyard, 1950s. Pond5.

Family celebrating Christmas holiday, 1970s. Pond5.

Child blowing out birthday candles, 1950s. Pond5.

Suffragettes hanging flag and marching,1920s. Hearst newsreel footage courtesy of the UCLA

Film & Television Archive and the Packard Humanities Institute.

Muhammad Ali addressing the press about his refusal to be drafted, 1974. CBS Archive/Veritone.

Billie Jean King wins the “Battle of the Sexes” match against Bobby Riggs, Houston, TX, 1973. ABC Sports.

I think one of the greatest tools that I learned is that I have the ability to truly change someone’s life, by virtue of what I say, what I do, and by virtue of what I expose them to. Jamal Massey interviewed by Storycorps, 2017. © Storycorps.

The March (1963). A film about the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington D.C., 1963. National Archives.

Monroe County veterans during a Memorial Day event, Bloomington, IN, 2021. Jeremy Hogan/Getty Images.

Programming during the Covid-19 pandemic by the the Obama Foundation Asia-Pacific Leaders, 2020. The Obama Foundation. 

Bridge Meadows, a multigenerational housing program in Oregon. 2024. PBS NewsHour.

Sometimes the way you build is so different from the way someone else does / you want to be big and visible and radical and loud / someone else wants to work quietly under the radar out of the public eye . Excerpt from the poem “What We Build,” delivered by Sarah Kay during the Scripps College Keynote Address. © Sarah Kay. Audio courtesy of Scripps College. 

Dolores Huerta and children sing We Shall Not Be Moved , 1977. 

Rooftop protesters, London, England, 1994. ITN/Getty Images.

Protesters at Woolworth drug store, 1960. Pond5.

Lunch counter sit-in demonstration, Chattanooga, TN, 1960. NBC News Archive/Getty Images.

Rally against Asian hate, Washington, D.C., 2021. Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Jane Kleeb speaks during the U.S. State Department hearing concerning the Keystone XL Pipeline, Grand Island, NE, 2013. Courtesy of the Nebraska Chapter Sierra Club.

Malcolm X speaks at a Black Muslim rally in Harlem, New York City, NY, 1961. NBC News Archive/Getty Images.

Judy Heumann speaks during the Senate House labor subcommittee session on the topic of discrimination against the disabled, Washington D.C., 1988. C-SPAN.

Rachel Carson, author of The Silent Spring , 1963. CBS Archive/Veritone.

Bayard Rustin presents during a workshop on non-violence, 1964. CBS Archive/Veritone.

Nurse at a hospital in Bijapur, India, 2013. Christian Ender/Getty Images.

You see, our glorious diversity—our diversities of faiths and colors and creeds that is not a threat to who we are… it makes us who we are. Michelle Obama remarks delivered during her last speech as First Lady, January 6, 2017.

Family having Christmas dinner, 1930s. Premiere Pictures/Getty Images.

Hundreds of Muslims gather in New Jersey to perform early morning Eid al-Adha prayer, 2023. Lokman Vural Elibol /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

Students get on school buses,1980. MPI/Getty Images.

Harvesting Hope (2024). A short film about the Hatcher family ranch, 2024. Morgan Hein/The Nature Conservancy.

Women singing during church services in Mississippi, 2010. Getty Images.

Tourists visit the Grand Teton area of Wyoming, 2018. Getty Images.

Chinese New Year Parade In New York City, NY, 2023. Tomas Abad/Getty Images.

In this world, in this time, you can make your own community. Community is everything . Jodi Archambault Gillette interviewed for the film Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock (2016), by Lucian Read. 

Dakota Access Pipeline protesters, Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, ND, 2016. © Jihan Hafiz. 

Dakota Access Pipeline protesters, Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, ND, 2016. © Lucian Read.

We the Americans…we the American people …we are trying to forge a new identity for which we need each other . James Baldwin speaks during the Cambridge Union Society debate between him and William F. Buckley in 1965. Cambridge Union Society/BBC Archive/Getty Images.

We know that democracy thrives when all means all. Anael Alston speaking during the Obama Foundation Democracy Forum, 2022. The Obama Foundation. 

Members of the My Brother's Keeper Alliance on Martha’s Vineyard, 2023. The Obama Foundation.

John Leong, CEO of Kupu, a Hawaii based organization, 2019. The Obama Foundation.

The Canatella family surprised by a pregnancy announcement, 2015. The Canatellas/Storyful via Getty Images.

The us’s….without hope, the us’s give up. And you, and you, and you have got to give them hope. Harvey Milk, 1977. Excerpt from The Times of Harvey Milk (1984). Courtesy of Black Sand Productions.

Group of people holding hands, 1987. Viacom/Getty Images.

Vietnam Soldiers return home, 1965. MPI/Getty Images.

Nikki Giovanni during an interview with James Baldwin, 1971. The WNET Group.

Youth Climate Strike, New York City, NY, 2022. Tomas Abad/Getty Images.

This future is not easy. It will not come if we don’t call it. It will not happen if we don’t make it. Excerpt from the poem “The Future,” by Nyarae Francis. © Nyarae Francis. Audio courtesy of the Berggruen Institute.

Devshi Mehrotra and CompileHer, an organization committed to computer science education for girls, 2019. The Obama Foundation.

Volunteers sorting food at a Hurricane Katrina relief center in Mississippi, 2005. Getty Images.

Dissa Ahdanisa and Fingertalk, 2019. The Obama Foundation. 

Mari Copeny, clean water activist from Flint, MI, 2018. © 2023 Ziff Davis, LLC.

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez on stage, from the film Bigger Than Us (2021). Bigger Than Us Productions/Elzivir Films.

U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm, 1969. NBC News/Getty Images.

ADAPT protest for disability rights in the Capitol Rotunda, Washington D.C., 1990. © Linda Litowsky/ADAPT Museum.

A. Philip Randolph Speaks at The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., 1963. Onyx Media/Getty Images.

Gloria Steinem in Ms. Magazine office, New York City, NY, 1973. BBC Archive/Getty Images.

Chicano Moratorium: A Question of Freedom (1971), a film by Thomas Myrdahl.  © Thomas Myrdahl/Picture This Production Services, Inc.

Elizabeth Glasers of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation speaks at the Democratic National Convention, 1992. Courtesy CNN.

Interview with U.S. Representative Patsy Mink, 1974. National Archives.

So here I stand, one girl among many. I speak not for myself, but for those without voice . Malala Yousafzai speaks to the United Nations Youth Assembly.  © United Nations, 2013.

Asian Justice Rally, New York City, NY, 2022. Lawrence Sumulong/Getty Images.

U.S. Marshals Escort Ruby Bridges into William Frantz School, New Orleans, LA, 1960. WWL-TV Collection, Louisiana State Archives’ Audiovisual Collection.

Female athletes rally in support of Title IX, 1979. CBS Archive/Veritone.

Volunteers distribute food and essentials to thousands displaced by the wildfires at The Dream Center in Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA, 2025. Michael Nigro/Getty Images.

Tens of thousands rally in support of Iranian protesters in Berlin, Germany, 2022. Reuters. 

Guest lecturer Minoru Yasui speaks to students in an Asian American class at UC, San Diego, 1986. © Jim Lin/Courtesy of the Minoru Yasui Legacy Project.

March for Our Lives march, Washington D.C., 2018. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. 

Protestors in Tiananmen Square, China, 1989. ITN/Getty Images.

Marsha P. Johnson being interviewed at a protest, New York City, NY 1973. Courtesy of LoveTapesCollective with special thanks to the Lesbian Herstory Archives.

Protest in Czechoslovakia, 1989. AP.

“What are you willing to give….” “My voice is weak but when I join with you, when we bring our voices together, we can be heard loud and clear." Ady Barkan. Excerpt from the film Not Going Quietly (2021) by Nicholas Bruckman. 

Voter registration event, Miami, FL, 2016. ITN/Getty Images.

Carrie Richards, regenerative farmer. Excerpt from Stories of Regeneration: A New (Re)Generation - Ft. Carrie Richards (2021). © Kiss the Ground.

Wounded Vietnam War veterans, NY, 1972. ITN/Getty Images.

 Couple Holding Hands during Gay Pride Parade, Washington D.C., 2017. Viacom/Getty Images.

Veterans protest in solidarity with Native Americans at the Oceti Sakowin camp, 2016. Getty Images. 

Protest Against 'Reaganomics,’ Chillicothe, MO, 1986. ITN/Getty Images.

Seniors tend a community garden, Williamson, WV, 2014. NewsHour Productions/Getty Images.

Schoolgirls in Nigeria, 2015. HUMAN (HUMAN US).

Jamal Cole, founder of My Block, My Hood, My City. Chicago, IL, 2017. The Obama Foundation. 

Rally against the Keystone XL and climate change, Washington, D.C., 2013. Getty Images.

People's Climate March, New York City, NY, 2014. Getty Images.

Environmental groups march through Johannesburg, South Africa, 2019. Reuters.

Please open your hearts . Elizabeth Wathuti speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the World Leaders Summit at COP26, 2021. © Elizabeth Wathuti, Courtesy of the United Nations.

Activists march with the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in New York City, NY, 1989. NBC News/Getty Images.

AANHPI Heritage Month event, 2013. The Obama Foundation.

Girls with AGE Africa in Malawi, 2023. The Obama Foundation.

Protest march following the murder of Vincent Chin, Detroit, MI, 1983. Fox Archives / WJBK Detroit.

Indigenous people of Ecuador protest the extraction of minerals and oil from their land, 2022. AFPTV via Getty Images.

Vietnam Moratorium, East Landing, MI, 1969. Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections.

 “THE POWER OF HOPE” Composed by Vincent Theo Dimitri Leibovitz (SACEM) 100%, IPI 535661740; Published by Cezame Metro Park (BMI) 100%, IPI 487402830. Courtesy of APM Music. 

"WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED” Performed by Dolores Huerta.