Ferguson Voices: A Moral Courage Project

LIVES FOREVER CHANGED

In May of 2016, nine University of Dayton students and their advisors traveled to Ferguson to interview individuals affected by the unrest in August 2014. Each story pairs with a striking portrait of the interviewee, photographed largely by Mark Katzman with additional portraits by Geoff Story, creative director at TOKY.

NARRATIVE NAVIGATION

Site visitors can explore the audio stories by chapter using the circular navigation element on the site’s home page. With this approach, one story leads into the next, creating a cyclical narrative without giving one individual priority over the next.

MAPPING DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES

In addition to the chapter-based navigation, visitors can explore stories geographically. Interviews are plotted on a map of Ferguson, providing context for the size of the community as well as the specific place each narrative plays out in relation to where Michael Brown was killed in 2014.

ANIMATION IN CONTEXT

On the home page, visitors are pulled in with an introductory animation that layers in storyteller portraits one at a time. We repurposed this video for social media as a way to introduce Ferguson Voices to audiences across the country.