The New York Silent Protest Parade in Photographs (1917)

The New York Silent Protest Parade in Photographs (1917)

AP African American Studies Guide

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Topic 3.6

Grace Nail Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, and Carl Van Vechten, Photographs from the New York Silent Protest Parade (1917)

Lines of women primarily in white dresses and hats marching in formation. Between the first and second lines, a man in a dark suit and hat holds a sign reading "RACE PREJUDICE IS THE OFFSPRING OF IGNORANCE AND THE MOTHER OF LYNCHING."
A line of four Black men in dark suits and hats beating small drums, marching ahead of a line of more Black men in dark suits and hats, and girls and women in white dresses (one of whom holds a sign reading "THOUGH SHALT NOT KILL"). People are watching along the sidewalk, including a uniformed police officer holding a nightstick.
A large group of Black men in dark suits and hats, some holding signs (including one reading "PRAY FOR LADY MACBETHS OF EAST ST. LOUIS" in the right foreground), marching in formation past a gothic church and other buildings on the right side of the photograph.
Men in dark suits and hats marching in formation — a single row, then two men holding signs (reading "We Helped to Plant the Flag IN EVERY AMERICAN DOMINION" and "TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION IS TYRANNY"), then a mass of multiple lines. People are watching along the sidewalk.
Two large groups of Black women in white dresses and hats (some dark, some white) marching in formation. Between these two groups are four Black men in dark suits, ties, and hats, waving large American flags. In the first group of women, one woman holds up a sign reading, "YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD."

Source: Photographs by Grace Nail Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, and Carl Van Vechten. New York - Silent Protest Parade, July 28, 1917. (Photographs of prominent African Americans, Series I: Photographs of Blacks Collected Chiefly by James Weldon Johnson and Carl Van Vechten, 1893-1954, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University)

On July 28, 1917, in response to white supremacist violence in Waco, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; and East St. Louis, Missouri, a coalition of civil rights groups led by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) led a silent protest down New York’s Fifth Avenue, calling for a federal anti-lynching law. The protesters marched in total silence, save for a drumbeat.