Slideshow: 20 marches that moved America

Woman Suffrage Parade, March 3, 1913

Both Mary Church Terrell and Ida B. Wells-Barnett were among the estimated 5,000-8,000 women who marched in the Woman Suffrage Parade (although the younger, brasher Wells-Barnett refused to march in the back of the parade) that proved pivotal in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, ensuring the vote for women.

(AP Photo)

NAACP Protests against The Birth of a Nation, 1915

Setting a precedent that we, the people, can hold Hollywood accountable, the NAACP spearheaded a nationwide protest of the racist depictions of African Americans in The Birth of a Nation that yielded key successes in cities like Chicago and Boston.

(AP Photo/Harris Lewine Collection)

Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, May 17, 1957

A few years before the March on Washington, an estimated 25,000 people gathered to urge the government to fully back the three-year-old Brown v. Board decision. Dr. King’s delivery of “Give Us the Ballot” helped solidify him as one of the nation’s top black leaders.

Student Sit-Ins of 1960

When four students in Greensboro, North Carolina decided to sit-in at the lunch counter at F.W. Woolworth, the momentum spread quickly to other college students throughout the South, actively bringing the voices of youth into the ongoing freedom struggle.

(AP Photo)

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963

With an estimated 250,000 in attendance, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. King delivered his legendary “I Have a Dream” speech remains a blueprint for any march for freedom and equality.

Selma to Montgomery Marches, February/March, 1965

Bloody Sunday, whose brutality television cameras captured live, literally stirring a nation, is well remembered as a turning point in a series of marches launched in February to help secure federal protection of voting rights. When the campaign finished in Montgomery, 25,000 people gathered for the victory rally, making it a pivotal civil rights win.

Coretta Scott King March with the Memphis Sanitation Workers, April 8, 1968

Four days after Dr. King’s assassination, Coretta Scott King led her children, along with an estimated 42,000 people, in a silent march through Memphis in support of the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike, cosigning the importance of all workers’ rights.

(AP Photo)

Women's Strike for Equality, August 26, 1970

Organized by NOW to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Women’s Strike for Equality drew more than 20,000 women to just New York alone as women all over the country celebrated the monumental victory.

(AP Photo)

Vietnam War Moratorium/ Vietnam War Out Now Rally, November 15, 1969/April 24, 1971

Few wars have gotten Americans as riled up as the Vietnam War and the 500,000 and more who turned out to both of these historic marches certainly proved that. The anti-war movement in this country is forever linked to the many protests against the Vietnam War.

(AP Photo)

National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, October 14, 1979

Drawing an estimated 75,000 to 125, 000 lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender as well as straight people, the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights demonstrated the size and impact of the gay community and its desire to be heard.

(AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

Solidarity Day, September 19, 1981

In the wake of President Ronald Reagan firing 12,000 striking air traffic controllers, the AFL-CIO stood firm for organized labor, attracting half a million union workers to the nation’s capital for its Solidarity Day.

(AP Photo/David Handschuh)

March and Rally for Peace and Disarmament, June 12, 1982

During the 1980s, there were many “No Nukes” demonstrations but the biggest has to be the March and Rally for Peace and Disarmament, which attracted an estimated million people to Central Park.

(AP Photo/Warren Jorgenson)

Anti-Apartheid/Divestment Movement by College Students, 1985

Not since the Civil Rights Movement had college students risen to a cause the way they did in 1985 as they challenged their universities and major corporations to divest from South Africa to bring up apartheid’s end.

(AP Photo/Ron Tussy)

Save Our Cities-Save Our Children, May 16, 1992

Right on the heels of the L.A. Riots, an estimated 150,000 people, including New York City’s David Dinkins (pictured) and Baltimore’s Kurt Schmoke, poured into Washington DC to demand that the government stand up for the nation’s beleaguering cities and children.

(AP Photo/Ed Bailey)

Million Man March, October 16, 1995

Minister Louis Farrakhan issued the call for a million, strong black men to come to the nation’s capital to stand up for the black community and themselves, and the response wowed the world.

(AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Million Woman March, October 25, 1997

Chilly weather and light rain didn’t keep tens of thousands of black women from descending on Philadelphia to join Winnie Mandela, Jada Pinkett Smith, Dr. Dorothy Height and Maxine Waters, among others, to stand up against the negative images of African American women.

(AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr.)

Anti-Iraq War Protests, 2003

Throughout early 2003, Americans, particularly in cities like San Francisco, New York and Washington, DC, joined others around the world in protesting the Iraq War.

(AP Photo/ Frank Franklin II)

United States Immigration Reform Protests, 2006

In one of the most well-orchestrated protest efforts the United States has ever seen, the Latino population poured out in the tens of thousands in over 100 cities across the nation from March to May to protest for immigration reform.

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

Jena 6 Protest, September 20, 2007

Pumped by Al Sharpton and radio personalities Warren Ballentine and Michael Baisden, an estimated 20,000 poured into the tiny Louisiana town to protest the unfair sentencing of six black teenagers in the assault of a white teenager in the tiny town of Jena, Louisiana.

Anti-Proposition 8 Protest, November 15, 2008

Californians shocked the world when voters approved Proposition 8 banning gay marriage but, on November 15, 2008, 1 million people in over 300 cities pushed back for equality in matrimony.

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)