Social Protest

A social protest is an act that challenges what currently exists. A social protest may be a response by an individual or a group or groups against a real or perceived social wrong. When individuals believe that a particular action, rule, behavior, or person violates their personal value system, individuals then decide whether to act or speak out against this situation. Social protest is generally connected with social movements and associated with the attempt at righting a wrong.

Social protest may be violent in nature or nonviolent. Some protesting may begin as a nonviolent call for action and end in a violent manner such as rioting or death. Social protest has been a part of the United States since colonial days. Most protests focus on the lack of representation on issues such as taxation, entering into military conflict, various governmental decisions, school policies, employment contracts or lack of them, and environmental issues. Methods of social protest have included acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, such as boycotts of specific products or services, and the distribution and signing of petitions calling for specific action, such as the recall of a government official or a hunger strike. Some forms of civil disobedience, such as sit-ins, marches or parades, picketing, and strikes, may begin nonviolently, but at times they may end up in violent situations such as rioting or physical harm directed at individuals. Through the years, social protest has existed in various forms ranging from news articles and editorials, songs, and poetry to activities such as flag burning. Planning of social protest activities often has occurred in churches, particularly African American churches, and colleges.

The most notable social protests include the Boston Tea Party, the boycotts and marches of the women's suffrage movement and 1960s Civil Rights Movement, and the riots at Kent State University, as well as the sit-ins and marches protesting the United States' participation in the Vietnam War.

A social protest that is not widely known is the effort to end slavery in the late 1820s and 1830s. The tactics included the distribution of petitions calling for the end of slavery, lectures featuring freed slaves as speakers, and use of the black newspaper Freedom's Journal in the hope of educating the public (whites) on the realities of slavery. Freed African Americans also formed counterorganizations, such as the Massachusetts General Colored Association started in 1826, and actively participated in aiding runaway slaves. This early social protest against slavery reflects the connections between social protest and social movements.

In the early 1880s, over 75 years prior to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the refusal of Rosa Parks to get off the bus, Ida B. Wells refused to be moved to a smoking section of the train when told to give up her seat in the “white” section. She later successfully sued the railroad company. Later in life, Wells protested against lynching by compiling statistics, publishing articles, and speaking out against lynching through the press. As part owner of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight, Wells used her [Page 745]writing ability and position to influence a protest of the lynching of Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Henry Stewart. Wells urged African Americans to save their money to leave Memphis and head west. The result was a financial disruption of a massive proportion of white businesses. Furthering the protest, Wells appealed to blacks to boycott riding the railway cars. The 1960s would witness similar events at the heart of the civil rights protests against lynching and other acts of racism. The 1960s also witnessed an increased involvement of student protesting. One of the most widely recognized protests was students' refusal to leave the Woolworth counter when they were refused service because they were black. Sit-ins became popular in the sixties as a form of social protest and were employed by many students across the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. and black organizers focused on nonviolent means of protesting racism throughout the United States and sought to forward the cause of racial equality through legislation.

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