Three Centuries of Justice Activism
The opportunities for citizen activism have never been more prevalent. When protestors meet patrols, it’s helpful to know what nonviolent resistance tactics have been employed in the past, and are they useful today?
19th Century
Although Pennsylvania passed an Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1780 and New York abolished slavery in 1827, the practice was not eliminated. Two prominent Antebellum and anti-slavery groups in the region were the Quakers and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Members of both groups formed the New York Committee of Vigilance and the Philadelphia Vigilante Committee in 1835 and ‘37, respectively, to help free Black people evade bounty hunters and kidnappers, and provide legal assistance, funds, food, and shelter. This system of aid was called the Underground Railroad. The term entered the common vernacular by 1840.
Abolitionists learned the workings of their clandestine network through mentorship from more experienced organizers. Details and procedures were passed by word-of-mouth to ensure secrecy. The specific roles were organizers, conductors, stationmasters of safe houses, lookouts, guides, and stockholders who raised funds and supplies. The decentralized system was built on small, independent cells, so people often learned only their specific part to protect the whole network.
Abolitionists’ organizing was founded on a shared adherence to principles of justice. They practiced tactics like gathering in churches and homes for information dissemination and community building, with singing serving as a powerful unifying tool; using newspapers, pamphlets, speeches, and slave narratives to communicate with the masses; signing petitions and lobbying to influence policy; and posing legal challenges in the courts.
20th Century
Established in 1932 in Tennessee, the Highland Folk School was founded as an incubator and training center for labor organizing. Its curriculum pivoted to Civil Rights training in the 1950s.
Activist and educator Septima Clark created the Highlander workshops on literacy, voting rights, and political action for Black citizens, which served as the blueprint for the Movement. Black and white activists, often working in integrated settings in the South for the first time, learned the strategy of marches, boycotts, freedom rides, and sit-ins to desegregate schools and businesses.
Civil Rights notables Rosa Parks, Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette, Julian Bond, James Bevel, John Lewis, and Martin Luther King, Jr. all participated in Highlander programs.
One of its core principles, individual empowerment, was echoed by veteran organizer Ella Baker, who believed, “Strong people don’t need strong leaders.”
Baker convened a regional student conference at her alma mater, Shaw University, in April 1960, out of which the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was born. Courtland Cox, Stokely Carmichael, Nash, Lewis, and Bond were early members of SNCC. So was Bob Moses, who helped form the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party with Fannie Lou Hamer in 1964 and organized Freedom Summer in 1966.
21st Century
The origins of modern-day policing actually began with the first Slave Patrols, formalized in South Carolina in 1704 to manage, control, and terrorize the growing enslaved population. They served as the roots of law enforcement, performing a similar function throughout the Civil Rights era and, arguably, to the present day.
As with the Abolitionists and the Civil Rights Movement, the realization of racial justice necessitates that people who are not directly affected by the injustice also be educated and participate.
One contemporary example of addressing that notion is the creation of the Immigrant Defense Network in Minneapolis, a
multi-organizational coalition established in 2025. “Know your rights, and use them to do what the Constitution allows you to do” is how one member describes the core mission of its Constitutional Observers training.
Documenting – not obstructing – the actions of ICE is a tool they use to provide information to lawyers and for follow-up with those arrested. (Whistles and signs vs pepper spray and guns is an imbalanced and lethal equation.)
Observers are trained to report ICE activity in their neighborhood; understand which law enforcement orders to follow and how to avoid practices that could put themselves or others at risk; and legally and effectively record interactions using a camera. They also learn how to document key details such as which agency officers represent and the procedures they use to do their work, where to submit documentation, and how to support families affected by an arrest, including delivering groceries, providing rides to school for immigrant students, and contacting families when someone is apprehended from a public space.
“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.”
In three centuries, the activists’ tactics remain similar and relevant. They are connected by a commitment to justice and a dedication to building community through the sharing of specific tactics, resources, education, and accurate information. They are best bound by disciplined conduct and infused with indefatigable hope.
As Yuval Levin, a guest on a recent Ezra Klein podcast put it, we have a choice as to
“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.”
In a participatory democracy, each of us must do what we can, especially if we want it to stay that way.
Some of us teach, some march, some make calls, and some make signs. Some sit-in, some boycott. Some sing and play music, while others dance and write. Some make speeches, some bear witness. Some are strategists, others foot soldiers. Some encourage, some defy. Some lobby and some donate. Some are “in the room where it happens,” and others are in the streets. Some get arrested, others represent them in court. Some are in exile, and some serve in office. Some hazard their reputations, others their livelihoods. Some risk their freedom, and some their lives.
march On!
