- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC
1997/2000
Selected photos, most taken by Umi, from the Million Women March (MWM) in 1997 and the Million Family March in 2000.
Notes: The 1995 Million Man March (MMM), organized by the Nation of Islam, was celebrated and criticized for centering Black men in its mobliizations. The Million Women March was inspired by the ‘95 event, but it was not directly organized by the NOI or any other major organization. Rather, two Philadelphia-based Black women activists, Asia Coney and Phile Chionesu, galvanized between 500 thousand and 1.5 million attendees (depending on who is counting), primarily through grassroots and word-of-mouth organizing as the effort was mostly ignored by mainstream media. Speakers included Winnie Mandela; Representative Maxine Waters; Ilyasah and Gamila Shabazz; Sista Souljah; Dick Gregory; Representative John Conyers; and Jada Pinkett Smith, who was the event MC for part of the day. The MWM came back into the public memory briefly in 2017, when the Women's March was renamed (originally it was called Million Woman March) in response to criticism of erasure.
I was a college student at the time in DC and the plan was that Umi and I would meet in Philly, with her coming down from NYC and me coming up from DC. However, I got sick right before and missed that historic event.
Three years later, Umi drove down to DC and together we attended the Million Family March. Held on the 5th anniversary of the MMM, this march was organized by the NOI and billed as an event for all (i.e. the family). It was attended by thousands of people, mostly Black, but also of a variety of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Unlike the MWM, there was plenty of coverage of this event. You can even still watch the full event on C-SPAN.