Changes

The suffrage protests perhaps peaked in the 1910s with several large marches in the United States and globally(Figure 2). In the United States, Alice Paul led a large protest in Washington and became a key strategist in helping to have the 19th Amendment to be ratified. She continued to protest well after her younger years and even in the 1960s she was active in the Civil Rights and Women's Rights movements. In fact, in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, women became included, and not just African Americans, in protection against discrimination in large part because of her organization and campaigning. Interestingly, as the anti-slavery protests helped to shape the suffrage movement for women in the 1800s and early 1900s, it was the suffrage movement that also shaped the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, as peaceful large marches, including in Washington, became the norm in post-World War II protests in order to gain increased national attention. This was the case for Martin Luther King's protests, initially in the US South, but also the strategy in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August 28, 1963. This march led to the well known "I Have a Dream Speech" by Dr. King but also demonstrated that large gatherings, filmed by the media, and focusing on inspirational and national figures could help spark success for protest movements. The subsequent anti-war Vietnam protests used similar strategies of having large protests, often by young people, focused on major cities and drawing national media coverage. Other events in the 1950s shaped the civil rights movement, which became the most prominent post-World War II protests and actions. This included Rosa Parks in 1955 being asked to give up her bus seat to a white man that helped to launch protests against segregation in Montgomery, Alabama and elsewhere. That incident not only launched Martin Luther King into a prominent leader for civil rights but it also demonstrate that non-violent civil disobedience could be an effective strategy of protest for many involved in the civil rights movement. The Montgomery Bus boycotts in 1955-1956 successfully ended bus segregation. From the 1957-1964, increasing civil rights laws at the federal level improved legal protection for African Americans despite persistent racial tensions. Both the anti-Vietnam war and civil rights movements helped to inspire and shape other non-violent protests in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the American Indian movement, but violence often persisted and accompanied more peaceful protests, including in against the war in Vietnam and civil rights. More recently, similar strategies were used for the gay, lesbian, and bisexual movements to gain increasing rights. One of the largest protests in United States history in Washington occurred in April 25, 1993, where over 800,000 marched in support of lesbian, gay, and bisexual rights.