Upworthy

Upworthy won seed funding for a series of highly shareable multimedia stories to address both the need for civic engagement beyond voting and the insufficient understanding of US history, and to connect audience members to action.

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7 times in U.S. history when people protested and things changed.

Protesting is a part of the American DNA; when voices unite, there are real results.
America fell in love with ‘Little Miss Flint’ long ago. What’s she up to now?

You may have seen her photo ops with Obama and Trump.Mari — now known as "Little Miss Flint" — has helped with bottle drives, marched in parades, talked on the news, and become a voice for change.
This 90-year-old didn't hear back from Obama. So she's walking to the White House.

Lee set out on foot from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, on Aug. 31, 2016, with a mission to walk all the way to Washington D.C. And no, it's not just for exercise, a Guinness record, or some sort of Forest Gump-level brush with boredom. Lee is driven by something much bigger: purpose. She is walking all the way to Washington, D.C. to hand deliver a petition to President Obama about making Juneteenth a National Day of Observance.
5 stories to tell people when they say their vote doesn't matter.

There are plenty of reasons why people don't vote in elections. One of the most common is also the most untrue - that an individual vote doesn't matter. This post highlights moments throughout American history where big elections were won by absolutely tiny margins, sometimes just a single vote!
3 times courageous groups of people changed America for the better.

It can be easy to feel that as individuals, we have no power to change the way things are in our country. But in reality, it's often individuals and small groups who create lasting change — just as Margaret Mead says in her famous quote. In this post, we look at three often overlooked grassroots movements — the Delano Grape strike, the 1960s call for accountability in the auto industry, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving — as examples of the ongoing impact that results when a few individuals demand action, and others stand with them. These movements demonstrate that change is possible, and anyone can lead the charge.
When a beloved professor was denied tenure, these students took action.

Aimee Bahng, an assistant professor at Dartmouth College, was denied tenure — despite unanimous support from her colleagues and glowing recommendations from her students. Students started using the hashtags #Fight4FacultyOfColor and #DontDoDartmouth on social media in order to spotlight the story as much as possible, and the effort is paying off. They rallied to spread Bahng's story on Change.org and now have over 3,600 signatures supporting the cause. Whatever the outcome, it's inspiring to see the student community working together to create real change.