
Today’s Google Doodle is commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the Silent Parade, a demonstration on July 28, 1917, where nearly 10,000 people marched in silence down New York’s Fifth Avenue to Madison Square protesting about African-American rights in the U.S..
The demonstration was one of America’s first mass protests of lynching and other anti-black violence and was led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), including leaders James Weldon Johnson and W.E.B Du Bois.
The protesters, who carried banners with slogans reading “Thou Shalt Not Kill” and “Your Hands Are Full of Blood”, were demanding then-President Woodrow Wilson take legislative action to protect the civil rights of African Americans, which he had spoken about during his presidential campaign.
“Today’s Doodle commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Silent Parade, and honors those whose silence resonates a century later,” a statement by Google explains.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington
- Why Do More Young Adults Have Cancer?
- Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love
- 11 New Books to Read in February
- How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone
- Cecily Strong on Goober the Clown
- Column: The Rise of America’s Broligarchy
- Introducing the 2025 Closers
Write to Kate Samuelson at kate.samuelson@time.com