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Protests & Movements

Mass demonstrations, marches, and organized movements that demanded change and reshaped American law, culture, and conscience.

Boston Massacre
The 1770 Street Confrontation That Ignited a Revolution
Chicago 1968
The Democratic Convention that tore a party apart and handed the White House to Nixon
Civil Rights Movement
The decades-long struggle that dismantled legal segregation and reshaped American democracy
Haymarket Affair
The 1886 bombing that defined — and distorted — the American labor movement
Homestead Strike
The 1892 labor battle that broke the steel union and defined Gilded Age industrial conflict
January 6 Capitol Attack
The 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol that interrupted the certification of the presidential election
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
The 1859 assault on a federal arsenal that made civil war feel inevitable to everyone
Kent State Shootings
The 1970 killing of four students by National Guard troops that broke the antiwar movement open
Los Angeles Riots (1992)
Six days of urban unrest following the acquittal of officers who beat Rodney King
March on Washington
The August 1963 demonstration where 250,000 Americans demanded civil rights — and heard a dream
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The 381-day protest that launched the modern civil rights movement
Murder of George Floyd
The 2020 killing that triggered a global racial-justice reckoning
Nat Turner's Rebellion
The 1831 slave rebellion that terrified the South and hardened the institution it challenged
New York Draft Riots
The deadliest civil insurrection in American history, ignited by the inequities of the Civil War draft
Occupy Wall Street
The 2011 protest that put economic inequality on the agenda
Selma to Montgomery Marches
The 1965 voting rights marches that broke open the conscience of a nation
Shays' Rebellion
The 1786 Uprising That Made the Constitution Necessary
Stonewall Riots
The 1969 Greenwich Village uprising that launched the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement
The #MeToo Movement
The 2017 reckoning over sexual harassment and assault
The Bonus Army March
The WWI veterans' encampment that Hoover destroyed — and Roosevelt studied carefully
The Boston Tea Party
The 1773 harbor protest that pushed the colonies toward revolution
The Freedom Rides
The 1961 campaign that put civil rights on buses and forced the federal government to act
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
The first nationwide strike — and the violent dawn of the American labor war
The Pullman Strike
The 1894 railroad shutdown that sent a labor leader to prison — and radicalized him
Watts Riots
Six Days of Uprising That Redefined the Civil Rights Movement, 1965
Whiskey Rebellion
The 1794 tax revolt that tested federal authority under the new Constitution
Women's Suffrage Movement
The seven-decade campaign that won American women the right to vote in 1920