upstander

plural upstanders

1. A person who stands up for something, as contrasted to a bystander who remains inactive.

   Professor Reeves has been a full-time upstander on Sudan since 1999, back when the people being slaughtered there were Christians in the south of the country.

   2006 May 7, Nicholas D. Kirstof, “Heroes of Darfur”, in The New York Times

2. archaicOne of the upright handlebars on a traditional Inuit sled.

   With quick presence of mind, Ootah grasped the rear upstander of the sled, which had begun to slide to and fro, and planted his harpoon in the ice.

   1913, T. Everett Harré, The Eternal Maiden, J. J. Little & Ives Company, pages 216–217