Google pays tribute to the Silent Parade of 1917 which set the stage for civil rights marches "The only sounds were those of muffled drums, the shuffling of feet and the gentle sobs of some of the estimated 20,000 onlookers. The women and children wore all white. The men dressed in black. On the afternoon of Saturday, July 28, 1917, nearly 10,000 African-Americans marched down Fifth Avenue, in silence, to protest racial violence and white supremacy in the United States. New York City, and the nation, had never before witnessed such a remarkable scene. The “Silent Protest Parade,” as it came to be known, was the first mass African-American demonstration of its kind and marked a watershed moment in the history of the civil rights movement." http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article164116762.html
I'm going to be honest I have never heard about this. Almost feel a shame for how old I'am and how much I read up. But yeah, wow.
Same. I'm shocked I never heard of this before, nor apparently any of the handful of Black teachers/professors I had as a young man. So much of our history, and history in general, is lost to the generations that follow. We were taught that MLK was the first civil rights leader who introduced non-violent protest and resistance to the movement, but here we see this has been going on since Black folk had a political conscience.
I saw that photo many times it was a big march at the time. They hope President Wilson would know their plight and of course being a Southerner he ignored it.
I know The Crisis magazine and the Black weekly papers covered it. I wondered which NYC paper covered it?
So very deep. The story and photo moves my heart. Truly a proud people, stoic and strong in the face of such utter and brutal savagery. God Bless their souls.
I took a course in African American History in college here and My (Black) Professor never covered this. And he covered it all from the Slave Trade on down. This is the kind of stuff they should make movies about. I read another article on it and it said onlookers were crying...could you imagine such a march today? Imagine ten thousand walking in silence, to muffled drums, in every city ....That movement and moment would be so powerful, and l think, invoke introspective thought for witnesses.. than any clash-filled burning, rioting protests of today.
