Let me start this by saying this article was previously entitled "10 Best Peaceful Protests" but with further thought and research I decided that such a statement might be too bold for my first ever Odyssey piece. Then it was going to be just about peaceful protests, but I realized I was leaving out several important demonstrations of our first Amendment Right.
But, I was reading my Twitter feed before bed, as most millennials do prior to, well anything, and I came across the sit-in the House Democrats were staging in response to Speaker Ryan's veto of the proposed gun legislation. Rather than tweeting my opinions using 140 characters or less or writing an opinion piece, I thought I would search the internet and put all of this pent up energy into something positive-ish. So, here are 10 notable protests that we often forget.
1. The Boston Tea Party
We are going start with the king of American protests; the protest that made our founding fathers say, "hey we should really throw in an amendment that lets us do that really cool protest our government thing again." The Boston Tea Party was a protest by the Sons of Liberty in 1773 in response to the British and their taxation without representation. This protest is important because Britain's response (the Intolerable Acts) is one of the reasons that America fought for independence. Basically without this protest, we could still be Britain's colonies instead of America's great states.
2. The New York City Draft Riots
I do not know about the state of New York, but in Texas we did not learn about these riots (sorry to my AP U.S. History teacher if we did). The New York City Draft Riots still remain the largest civil and racial uprising against the government in American history, besides the Civil War itself. From July 13-16 of 1863 middle class men rioted in response to the recent bills passed requiring men to enlist in the draft for the Civil War. The draft riots eventually turned into a race riot that killed 120 people and burnt down many streets in New York City.
3. The Women's Suffrage Parade of 1913
This one is pretty cool because Alice Paul, suffragette extraordinaire, organized a parade on the day of Woodrow Wilson's inauguration event to protest the political process in which they were not allowed to participate in. Despite the harassment by male spectators and lack of police protection, the women kept walking and furthering the fight for women's equality.
4. Flint Sit-Down Strike
There are not a lot of labor unions in central Texas, partly because the lack of giant manufacturing facilities and our state government's opposition to them, but I can appreciate the advancement of working conditions through these unions. In December of 1936 the labor union movement started in Flint, Michigan to create better working conditions for General Motors employees. The protests resulted in the United Automobile Worker's Union, which still one of the largest labor unions in the country.
5. Montgomery Bus Boycott
We are halfway there! The Montgomery Bus Boycotts came in response to Rosa Park's arrest after being asked to move to the back of a bus to accommodate a white man. On December fifth of 1955, four days after Parks's arrest, 90 percent of Montgomery black population did not ride the bus. When the demands for desegregation were not met, the boycott continued. They protested for 13 months. In 1956 in Browder v. Gayle bus segregation was deemed unconstitutional and Martin Luther King Jr. called off the boycotts.
6. March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
But Martin Luther King Jr. was not done just yet. In 1963 he organized the largest political rallies in American history to demand for equality for African Americans. At this rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. This march is accredited as being the reason the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed, which outlawed discrimination based off of race, religion, color, sex, or national origin.
7. 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute
Martin Luther King Jr. was a rockstar to say the least, but the fight was not over. After African American athlete Tommie Smith won the gold medal in the 200 meter dash, Smith and fellow teammate John Carlos held up their black gloved fist in solidarity with Black Power during the playing of the United States' National Anthem. In 1968 African American athletes were urged to boycott the Olympics due to continued racial injustice, but Smith and Carlos chose to represent their country and race. This act of protest is still considered the biggest political statement during the modern Olympics.
8. The Stonewall Riots
The Stonewall Riots began in protest of the events at the Stonewall Inn on 1969 in Manhattan. The morning of June 28, 1969 police raided the bar, arresting some who either did not produce I.D. or those whose gender on their I.D. did not match the gender they expressed. A crowd formed outside of the Inn and tensions were high between the crowd and police. Police lost control of the situation and a riot broke out. This rioting continued for the next few days. The LGBT community was done being targeted and arrested for their sexual orientation/gender identification. These riots were seen as the spark to the gay liberation movement. Because of this event the first PRIDE parade was held in June 28th, 1970.
9. Kent State Protest
Oh the Vietnam War... There were many protests during this time, but the Kent State Protest which was eventually called the Kent State Massacre affected public opinion tremendously. On May first, 1970 Kent State students held a demonstration on campus which they eventually stopped to attend classes after it had became violent. They planned to reconvene May fourth, but on May third another rally was held. After 45 minutes, the students were sprayed with tear gas to disperse the crowd. On May fourth the rally began again in full force. The National Guard and campus officials tried to stop it but it got too violent. The guardsmen started firing on the students, killing four and injuring nine. This left many to further blame our nation's armed forces and to further question our involvement in the Vietnam War.
10. Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street was a movement that started in 2011 to protest the economic and social inequality worldwide. Protesters camped in New York City's Zuccotti Park bringing tents to live in and food to eat because they were in it for the long haul. The slogan was "we are the 99 percent" because they believed that the wealthiest 1 percent continued to get richer creating a larger economic gap. The protesters were forced out of the park in November of 2011, ending the protest but not the movement.
I probably left out a few, but these are some of the most notable that we either forget or just take the rights they have given us for granted. America has grown a lot over the past 240 years, but one thing remains the same; if Americans do not like it, we will change it. So, despite your views on the House Democrat's sit-in, just remember they are demonstrating their first amendment right.
