How to Read a Protest: The Art of Organizing and Resistance

Professor and activist Kauffman explores the nature of American mass protest and what can be inferred about a protest’s character from its signage, in this slim but in-depth history. The first half of the book focuses on the 1963 March on Washington, advocating for integration and economic opportunities for African-Americans; Kauffman looks at the organization of the march (top-down, by male heads of activist groups, who excluded female organizers and stipulated everything from the messages on the printed signs to what kinds of sandwiches participants should bring for lunch), its collaborative relationship to the government (typical of large-scale U.S. mass demonstrations, with permits), and its effects (including backlash). From there, Kauffman traces the march’s effects on subsequent mass protests, particularly the 2017 Women’s March on Washington on the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as president. This march, she points out, had a different flavor, a decentralized, grassroots, “woman-led, multi-issue character” exemplified by the homemade signs marchers carried and the intersectional makeup of the organizing group. This, Kauffman claims, gave the women’s marches around the country “a powerful and unprecedented movement-building impact.” While Kauffman presents a fascinating and detailed history of American mass demonstrations, scarcely a year and a half on from the women’s marches, it’s hard to assess the accuracy of her claims about what current mass protests achieve in building movements. Photos. [em](Nov.) [/em]