Marchers were protesting against the East St. Louis riots, 1917. The march, called the “Negro Silent Protest Parade,” was one of the country’s first mass protests against racial violence. It was organized by the NAACP to protest the horrors of lynchings, Jim Crow segregation and a horrifying race riot in East St. Louis. More than 100 black people had been killed by white mobs and more than 6,000 black people were burned out of their homes. In the East St. Louis riots, which began July 2, 1917, and lasted two days, white mobs indiscriminately stabbed black people, beating them and hanging them.

Source: Washington Post July 28, 2017 20:37 UTC