THE SILENT PARADE

July 28, 1917

During the summer of 1917, racial tensions grew across the nation (Newman,). At the beginning of summer 1917, the East St. Louis Race Riot, otherwise known as the East St. Louis Massacre occurred. During this riot, white residents of East St. Louis attacked and killed dozens of African Americans. In addition, as a result of neighborhoods being burned down, many African Americans were left homeless (Newman). At the same time, riots, lynching and outrages occured in Texas, Tennesee, Illinois and other states (Newman).

In response to these acts of violence against African Americans, the NAACP (The National Association of Colored People), created in 1909 by activists who wanted to fight racial violence, orchestrated a protest, known as the Silent Parade or Silent March. The vice president of the NAACP, James Weldon Johnson, and civil rights leaders, met at St. Phillips Church to discuss the plans for the protest (Newman). Johnson and the rest of the group agreed a silent protest would be the best way to spark racial reform and an end to the violence against African Americans (Newman). They thought it was most important that African Americans participated in the demonstration because they were the victims of these hate crimes, and soon they issued a call for a Silent Protest.

On July 28, 1917, nearly ten thousand black men, women and children silently paraded south down 5th avenue all the way to Madison Square in New York City ("Silent Protest Parade Centennial"). Children dressed in white led the march, followed by women also dressed in white, and at the back marched the men dressed in dark suits (Newman). They all held banners and posters that said phrases like “Race Prejudice is the offspring of ignorance and the mother of lynching” or as seen in the picture above: “The First Blood for American Independence was shed by a negro Crispus Attucks” (Bowery Boys). Being the first major public protest by Black Americans against racial violence, the Silent March is a significant part of U.S. nation's history and although their march was silent, their message that racial violence is unjust and inhumane, was heard loud and clear.

Written by Beatriz Saldana

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bowery Boys, Post author By Bowery, et al. “Listening to the Silent Parade of 1917: The Forgotten Civil Rights March.” The Bowery Boys: New York City History, 27 July 2020, www.boweryboyshistory.com/2020/07/listening-silent-parade-1917-forgotten-civil-rights-march.html.

Newman, Alexis. "New York City NAACP Silent Protest Parade (1917)", 28 May 2020, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/naacp-silent-protest-parade-new-york-city-1917/.

“Silent Protest Parade Centennial.” NAACP, 27 July 2017, naacp.org/silent-protest-parade-centennial/.

EXPLORE

WEBSITES

REMEMBERING THE NAACP'S 1917 SILENT PROTEST AND THE REFUSAL TO ACCEPT "BARBARIC ACTS"