Million Woman March

The Million Woman March was a grassroots protest march for Black women in America that took place on October 25, 1997 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.{{cite news |last1=Fletcher |first1=Michael A. |last2=Brown |first2=DeNeen L. |title=Anticipation, Hopes Build For Million Woman March |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/10/24/anticipation-hopes-build-for-million-woman-march/11a34c41-e5e6-4dfd-b3cf-49df0ebe973b/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=25 October 2023 |date=24 October 1997}}{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Horace |title=The Million Woman March |journal=Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity |date=1997 |issue=35 |pages=86–89 |doi=10.2307/4066098 |jstor=4066098 |url=http://www.jstor.com/stable/4066098 |access-date=24 October 2023}}{{cite news|last=Janofsky|first=Michael|title=At Million Woman March, Focus Is on Family|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/26/us/at-million-woman-march-focus-is-on-family.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 26, 1997}} The event was organized by local store owner Phile Chionesu and public housing activist Asia Coney,{{cite web |last1=Oliver |first1=Pamela |title=Organizing the Million Woman March |url=https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/racepoliticsjustice/2023/01/28/organizing-the-million-woman-march/ |website=Race, Politics, Justice |access-date=24 October 2023 |date=28 January 2023}} who worked independently of national organizations and spread awareness largely through the internet, flyers, local women's organizations, and word-of-mouth.{{cite book |last1=Everett |first1=Anna |title=Digital Diaspora: A Race for Cyberspace |date=2009 |publisher=SUNY Press |location=Albany |isbn=978-0-7914-7674-1 |pages=49–78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T3xhglJ1_bcC |access-date=24 October 2023}}

The event drew between 500,000 and over two million people to Benjamin Franklin Parkway,{{cite web |last1=Garfield |first1=Leanna |last2=Ettinger |first2=Zoë |title=14 of the biggest marches and protests in American history |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-marches-us-history-2017-1 |website=Business Insider |access-date=24 October 2023 |date=1 June 2020}}{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Deborah Gray |title=Freedom on My Mind |last2=Bay |first2=Mia |last3=Martin |first3=Waldo E. |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-312-64884-8 |page=746}}{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9710/25/million.woman.march2/ | title=Million Woman March fills Philadelphia streets | date=October 25, 1997 | publisher=CNN | accessdate=October 23, 2017}} and is considered one of the largest demonstrations in American history. The organizers' 12-point platform included demands for an end to homelessness; support for currently and formerly-incarcerated Black women; improvements to education, health care, poverty, and services fighting addiction; an independent investigation into allegations of CIA drug trafficking; and the release of political prisoners such as Mumia Abu-Jamal.{{cite news |title=Crowds Gather in Philadelphia to Take Part in Million Woman March |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-25-mn-46571-story.html |newspaper=LA Times |access-date=25 October 2023 |date=25 October 1997}}{{cite web |last1=Moorehead |first1=Monica |title=Million Women March: Black women seek unity |url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/243.html |website=Workers World |access-date=25 October 2023 |date=6 November 1997}}{{cite web |last1=Janofsky |first1=Michael |title=Million Women March Is Set With High Hopes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/23/us/million-women-march-is-set-with-high-hopes.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=25 October 2023 |date=23 October 1997}}{{cite news |last1=Fletcher |first1=Michael A. |last2=Brown |first2=DeNeen L. |title=We Are Countless In Unity |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/10/26/we-are-countless-in-unity/9ddc648f-527e-4113-b21c-e3650015bae4/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=25 October 2023 |date=26 October 1997}}

Overview

The march was founded and formulated by Phile Chionesu, a grassroots activist, human rights advocate, black nationalist/freedom fighter, and owner of an African crafts shop. She was not associated with any national black organizations. After several months of underground organizing, Chionesu asked Asia Coney to join her as national co-chair.{{cite web |last1=Russ |first1=Valerie |title=On its 25th anniversary, organizers pledge another Million Woman March next year |url=https://www.inquirer.com/news/million-woman-march-philadelphia-25-year-anniversary-new-world-march-2023-20221026.html |website=Philadelphia Inquirer |access-date=24 October 2023 |date=26 October 2022}}

File:Sister Souljah 1997.jpeg in Philadelphia, 1997]]

The march started from the Liberty Bell and ended at the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum,{{cite web |last=Jones|first=Ashley |title=Million Woman March, 1997 |date=February 26, 2008 |publisher=BlackPast.org |access-date=May 8, 2014 |url=http://www.blackpast.org/aah/million-woman-march-1997}} with scheduled hours of prayer, speeches, and music. Speakers at the event included Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of Nelson Mandela; Congresswoman Maxine Waters; Sista Souljah; Jada Pinkett Smith; Attallah and Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughters of Malcolm X; and Dr. Dorothy Height. A message was read from Assata Shakur from her exile home of Cuba.{{cite web|title=Opinions on Million Woman March|url=http://www.writeopinions.com/million-woman-march|website=Write Opinions|accessdate=April 30, 2015}}

The march has been considered a social phenomenon due to its organizers' grassroots organizing and lack of support from national organizations.{{cite web |title=On This Day: The Million Woman March Took Place in Philadelphia |url=https://www.ebony.com/on-this-day-the-million-woman-march-took-place-in-philadelphia/ |website=Ebony |access-date=24 October 2023 |date=25 October 2018}} They shared information via media coordinators such as BWN NJ Delegate Stacey Chambers, Alpha Kappa Alpha,{{cn|date=October 2022}} and by word of mouth, flyers, Black-run media, the Internet, and a network of women's organizations.

Attendance

Police estimates ranged from 300,000 to 1 million, whereas organizers estimated an attendance of 1.5 to over 2 million.{{cite web |url=http://www.democracynow.org/print.pl?sid=03/04/07/0327238 |work=Democracy Now! |title=Million Woman March |date=October 27, 1997 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070913151605/http://www.democracynow.org/print.pl?sid=03%2F04%2F07%2F0327238 |archive-date=September 13, 2007 }} A study provided by the University of Pennsylvania that made use of aerial footage, photos, and other research data and information obtained from news and other sources, indicates that the gathering drew at least 500,000 people.{{cn|date=October 2022}} The attendees came despite cold temperatures and light rain, with signs throughout the march reading, "I am one in a million" and "Black Women: No more AIDS, abuse, addiction".

Mission

The broader mission of the Million Woman March was for the self-determination of African American women through economic and political solidarity,{{cite book |last1=Alex-Assensoh |first1=Y. M. |last2=Hanks |first2=L. J. |title=Black and Multiracial Politics in America |date=2000 |publisher=New York City Press |location=New York City |pages=376–377 |isbn=978-0-8147-0663-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q17Vwdwm1-wC |access-date=24 October 2023}} with Chionesu saying, "We want to prepare our women, no matter what their status in life, to look at how we can begin to invest as black women and how we can begin to vote in blocs as black women."

Many noted that while the Million Man March framed progress as requiring responsibility and "atonement", the Million Woman March organizers spoke more often of the need to change larger systems, such as the school, health care, education, and prison systems, as well as government entities such as the CIA. An investigation into the CIA's alleged involvement with drug trafficking, specifically of crack cocaine, was a focal point for speaker Maxine Waters and also the first of the organizers' twelve platform issues. The protest also emphasized issues of environmental racism, a focus of Madikizela-Mandela's speech.

The march was also intended to draw attention to statistics demonstrating the marginalization of African American women, including that 94 out of 1,000 African American teenage girls are victims of violent crime and African American women are eighteen times more probably to get AIDS than white women; in 1996, African American women earned $30 less than African American men per week, and $40 less than white women.

The Million Woman March has continued its mission under the direction of the founder and national offices, going on to organize over 50 conferences, over 100 forums, 12 years of online radio broadcasts, and many social justice protests for women and African-American women.{{Cite web |url=https://lcrm.lib.unc.edu/blog/index.php/2012/10/25/on-this-day-the-million-woman-march/comment-page-1/ |title=On This Day: The Million Woman March |work=Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement |publisher=UNC-Chapel Hill |access-date=May 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508063411/https://lcrm.lib.unc.edu/blog/index.php/2012/10/25/on-this-day-the-million-woman-march/comment-page-1/ |archive-date=May 8, 2014 |url-status=dead }}