Social Movements in US History
                     SOCIAL 
MOVEMENT
S IN US 
HISTORY
1688: Germantown 
Quaker petition 
against slavery
A group of Quakers in Germantown, 
Pennsylvania, in 1688 created the “first 
written protest against slavery in the new 
world,” according to the Germantown 
Mennonite Historic Trust. 
Source: stacker.com
1773: The Boston Tea 
Party
Protesters flooded Griffin’s Wharf in Boston 
on a dreary December evening in 1773 to 
demonstrate against the Tea Act, which 
gave the British government an effective 
monopoly on selling tea in the colonies. 
Source: stacker.com
1791: The Whiskey 
Rebellion
Enraged by a new duty on whiskey and 
distilled spirits implemented in 1791, 
farmers in Pennsylvania and Virginia used 
violence and acts of intimidation in 
attempts to stop the collection of the tax. 
Source: stacker.com
The Seneca Falls 
Convention
A group of feminists on July 19, 1848, 
hosted the first women’s rights convention 
in the United States: the Seneca Falls 
Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. 
Around 300 people assembled to protest 
the government’s unequal treatment of 
women and to call for women to be 
granted all the rights and freedoms 
outlined in the Declaration of 
Independence.
Source: stacker.com
1863: New York City 
draft riots
Violent demonstrations erupted in Lower 
Manhattan from July 13–16, 1863, in 
response to a decision by Congress to 
draft men into the Civil War. The protests 
quickly devolved into a race riot as white 
protestors (comprised largely of Irish 
immigrants) began attacking Black people
—many of whom ended up permanently 
moving from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
Source: stacker.com
1874: The Women’s 
Crusade
The Women’s Crusade was a religious, 
anti-alcohol group. Members of the group 
protested the sale of alcohol through 
picketing, marching, and public praying 
outside of saloons in Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
New Jersey, Indiana, and Michigan in 1874.
Source: stacker.com
1911: Triangle 
Shirtwaist fire protests
Labor rights activists mounted parades to 
draw attention to dangerous workplace 
conditions and mourn the victims of a fire 
at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that 
killed 146 garment workers in New York 
City on April 5, 1911. 
Source: stacker.com
1913: Suffrage 
movement
An estimated 5,000–8,000 protesters 
gathered to march down Pennsylvania 
Avenue in Washington D.C., ahead of 
President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration 
in 1913 to call for women’s suffrage. 
People in opposition to the protest 
assaulted many of the demonstrators, 
sparking public outrage that ultimately 
helped increase support for women’s right 
to vote.
Source: stacker.com
1932: Bonus Army 
march
Around 20,000 veterans and their families 
assembled in Washington D.C., in June 
1932 in anticipation of the passage of a 
bill that would allow former military 
members to cash in certificates for $1,000 
bonuses early, in the midst of the Great 
Depression.
Source: stacker.com
1955: The 
Montgomery bus 
boycott
After Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing 
to give up her bus seat to a white 
passenger, the Black community in 
Montgomery, Alabama, banded together 
to boycott the city bus system in 
December 1955. 
Source: stacker.com
1960: The Greensboro 
sit-in
On Feb. 1, 1960, a group of young African 
American students protested racial 
segregation by staging a sit-in at a 
Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, 
North Carolina. They refused to give up 
their seats, despite being denied service 
because they were Black, and even 
returned the following day with a larger 
group of protesters.
Source: stacker.com