Protests: The Heartbeat of American Democracy
Protests in America are older than the nation itself. Three years before the U.S. declared independence, fed-up settlers in Massachusetts spent three hours dumping tea into Boston Harbor—a rebellion now known as the Boston Tea Party. “Protest is the heartbeat of a functioning democracy. America was born not only from a rejection of monarchy, but from the vision of a democracy of, by, and for the people,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, an organization involved with No Kings demonstrations.
Those protests, most recently on March 28, 2026, assembled millions of demonstrators across the country to denounce President Donald Trump’s second term. Protesters gathered near Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, during the "No Kings" national day of protest.
Trump's Executive Order and the Backlash
Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 aimed at removing information from national parks, monuments, museums, and memorials that portrayed the U.S. as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.” The order sought to remind the country of “our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing.”
However, the order is just one component of a yearslong conservative effort to downplay and rewrite the country’s problematic past by attacking “woke” policies and critical race theory. Trump’s administrations have actively targeted marginalized groups, rolling back hard-fought protections. This has sparked backlash, including the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, and recent anti-ICE demonstrations.
Trump's Disdain for Protesters
Trump has repeatedly derided demonstrators, saying in 2016 he wanted to punch a protester at a Nevada rally. He has referred to protesters opposing immigration raids as “animals,” “insurrectionists,” and “a foreign enemy.” These statements directly oppose Americans’ First Amendment right to free speech and protest, disregarding the importance of protest over the past 250 years.
“Any moment where we have advanced as a country, where we’ve deepened democracy, where we have unwound white supremacy and advanced equality, there have been massive protest movements that were grassroots, coming from the public and pushing politicians forward,” said Nicole Carty, executive director of Get Free. “It really is through fully reckoning with our history and undoing the legacies that made us unequal in the beginning of this country.”
Upcoming Demonstrations: "All of US" Protests
More than 100 demonstrations across the nation are set to take place on Saturday with Get Free, an organization sponsoring the “All of US” protests. “There’s really a concerted effort coming from the federal government to make this anniversary tell a very specific story about American history that sets up a future where really only wealthy white men have civil rights,” Carty said.
Anthony Vidal Torres, communications director of Get Free, called it “an opportunity for the public to channel their defiance and their desires for reckoning, repair, and equality over erasure.” He added: “We’re taking up the baton from our ancestors and really stepping into the legacy of the abolitionist movement, the civil rights movement, with our effort here.”
Historical Protests: From Slavery to Civil Rights
The enslavement of Africans began in the British colonies in 1619, more than 150 years before the Declaration of Independence. Rebellions against slavery included Nat Turner’s Rebellion in Virginia in 1831, the Harpers Ferry Raid in 1859, and the raid at Combahee River in South Carolina that freed 700 enslaved people in 1863.
A century later, the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s inspired countless demonstrations advocating for desegregation and an end to discrimination against Black people. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington.
Indigenous and LGBTQ+ Activism
Indigenous activism is crucial to understanding U.S. history. In 1969, 89 members of the Indians of All Tribes began a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in California to reclaim the land. “We, the native Americans, re-claim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery,” their proclamation read.
The fight for LGBTQ+ rights is also ingrained in U.S. history. The Stonewall uprising in New York City began on June 28, 1969, in response to police violence against the LGBTQ+ community.
Women's Suffrage and Student Protests
Women’s right to vote was not codified until 1920 with the 19th Amendment, following decades of feminist struggle, including the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C. Young people at colleges have been at the heart of revolutionary moments, such as students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in 1970, where the National Guard killed four people. Days later, police killed two students at Jackson State University.
Extreme Forms of Protest and Far-Right Demonstrations
Over 250 years, protests have taken various forms, including hunger strikes and self-immolation. For example, peace activist Alice Herz set herself on fire in Detroit in 1965 to protest the Vietnam War, and Aaron Bushnell did the same in 2024 to protest Israel’s war on Gaza.
America’s far right has also used protests, which Trump treated with forbearance. Notable examples include the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists protested the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, which Trump called a “day of love.” Trump later pardoned Jan. 6 rioters convicted of crimes.
Current Threats to Protest Rights
Trump’s administration wants to make it harder to stage protests in Lafayette Square in front of the White House, a historic landmark site of countless demonstrations. The administration’s heavy-handed anti-immigration agenda sparked protests, notably in Minneapolis, where immigration agents killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good in 2026.
“Now, at a moment when basic constitutional rights are increasingly under attack, protecting and exercising those freedoms is as important as it was in 1776,” Levin said. “The spirit behind the No Kings movement isn’t new. It’s woven into the DNA of this country. Democracy is a verb, and 250 years later, it still requires all of us to participate.”
