Black News
7 Protests From Around The World Led By Fearless Black Women
These women in formation will have you reeling with black lady pride.
From Jamaica to South Africa, wherever there’s been racism, patriarchy, or all of the above, there have been women organizing to resist it.
The crucial activism of black women has historically been overshadowed, not only by their male counterparts but white women as well.
Movements like those of the Civil Rights era predominantly focused on the men at the movement’s forefront and an overwhelming majority of women’s rights movements (including today’s) are centered on white feminist narratives.
But, nonetheless, black women have persisted.
In honor of International Women’s Day, we’ve highlighted just a few of the protests and movements that have been orchestrated by black women around the globe.
These women didn’t wait for anyone to advocate on their behalf and are reminders that while our plight may be ignored by mainstream narratives, we’ll never be silent in the face of oppression.
Some of the below images may contain graphic material.
1. The 1956 Women’s March To Pretoria, South Africa
n the summer of 1956, 20,000 women in South Africa organized to protest the country’s introduction of pass laws for women―which required women of African descent to apply for permits to travel in and out of certain urban areas. While pass laws had already been in place for men, extending them to women meant that unemployed women would be kept away from their families as they weren’t granted access to towns in which they didn’t work.
The Federation of South African Women and the African National Congress Women’s League led a historic march to the Union buildings where they silently awaited the deliverance of their petitions to the Prime Minister’s office.
The day has since been commemorated in South Africa as Women’s Day. Last year, women celebrated the march’s 60th anniversary (shown above).
2. Black Women’s March, Brazil
Days before Brazil’s National Day of Black Consciousness in 2015, over 10,000 black women came together for “Marcha das Mulheres Negras.” Women in Brazil marched in resistance to violence, racism and gender…