Through rain, icy streets and below freezing temperatures, thousands braved the weather to face a second Trump administration. 

On Jan. 18 at 10:15 a.m., only days before President Trump’s second inauguration, hundreds of people in support of women’s rights, gender rights and LGBTQIA+ rights gathered in Franklin Park in Washington, D.C. The crowd united with individuals from two other groups en route to the Lincoln Memorial, marking the eighth reprisal of the People’s March, rebranded from the Women’s March in 2017.

Franklin Square at 10:45a.m. Hundreds of protesters flood the streets to join the People’s March to Lincoln Memorial. 

The pre-march rally at Franklin Park was led by various organizations and speakers, such as the Young Feminist Party, Gender Liberation Movement and Generation Common Good. Activists of all ages came together and voiced concerns for women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community in Trump’s vision for America. This included commentary regarding Biden’s recent acknowledgment of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as a part of the Constitution, despite it not being fully ratified.

Members of the Young Feminist Party gather in Franklin Square to support the Deputy Executive Director of the Party, Claudia Nachega.

“The Equal Rights Amendment is the most comprehensive and permanent bill to protect against the onslaught and the attack on our reproductive freedom, gender affirming healthcare, LGBTQ+ rights and beyond,” said Claudia Nachega, the deputy executive director of the Young Feminist Party. “The amendment consists of 24 words: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

Claudia Nachega delivers a speech at the pre-march rally in Franklin Square.

Speakers and protestors also discussed the carceral system, book bans, affordable housing, tenant rights, trans rights, racial equity, the dismantling of the school to prison pipeline, mass deportation and more during the march. 

Following the preliminary rallies, the dense and growing procession of protesters prepared to march to the Lincoln Memorial. 

Protesters walked side by side, some with friends and family and some solo — brandishing poignant signs with their opinions on legislation, political actors, civil rights movements and more. Signs that read “Trans Lives Matter,” “Free Palestine,” “People Over Politics,” and “Donald Trump, I hate you so much,” were held in the air with pride. 

A mother and daughter duo march hand in hand towards the Lincoln Memorial.

A protester holds a sign calling on current and future administrations to restore control over bodily autonomy, land, and rights to the people — specifically the rights of Indigenous women.

People congregate in Franklin Park and hold up pro-choice signs.

A protester’s sign states, “As a teacher, I will never stop fighting for every students right to exist in power and peace.” With various words and phrases surrounding the primary message, such as “Pronouns are important,” “Support Black Joy,” “End school Choice,” “English does not have to be a first language for a student,” and more.

One demonstrator’s sign dismisses and rejects the plans detailed in Project 2025.

A float next to the People’s March speaks out against the genocide in Palestine.

The People’s March in D.C. echoed the thousands of marches across the country this past weekend in protest against the incoming Trump administration.

Roberta Allen traveled from Colorado a few days before Jan. 18 to attend the People’s March. 

“I’ve been doing this since 1975, in terms of protesting and supporting women’s rights,” Allen said. “I don’t think our politicians have much character or integrity, and I think that we should have standards for our politicians. And if they break the code of ethics, they should be expelled from the Congress, the Supreme Court or the Presidency.”

Roberta Allen, a protestor attending the march, holds up her sign for a picture.

Allen’s commentary speaks to the demands of the thousands of individuals who later joined the march at the Lincoln Memorial.

Laura and Pablo, a married couple from New Jersey, stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial stage for 40  minutes prior to the event in under 20 degree weather. 

“We can accomplish a lot of things if we organize and if we actually show up,” Laura said. “There’s a lot of this division and divisive language and rhetoric online, which is where most people live nowadays, but I think that actually being one-on-one together, shoulder to shoulder, proves a lot.”

“I guess for me, I hope to get out of it just as the name suggests, that it’s the People’s March,” Pablo said. “We are here because everybody has a voice and should have a voice in this country and world.” 

Laura and Pablo, of Latina and Guatemalan descent respectively, stand in front of the rally stage at the Lincoln Memorial.

A flood of demonstrators lined the Lincoln Memorial stage and the National Mall by 1:55 p.m., and the crowd grew exponentially as the event went on.

Thousands of demonstrators gather at the National Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the People’s March.

Throughout the day, several organizations, including Free DC, the Sierra Club, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and the Dream Defenders, took part in speaking to the crowd. Solo speakers included Abby Stein, a transgender woman, author and rabbi, and Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, a member of the team directly organizing the People’s March and a representative for political activist and UC Santa Cruz Professor Emerita, Angela Davis. 

The representative relays Angela Davis’ message to the participants of the People’s March.

“It’s so important that so many people are gathering in Washington, D.C. and around the country today to say, ‘no,’ exclusively ‘no,’ to the reactionary agenda of this new regime,” Woodard Henderson said as she read Angela Davis’ message to the People’s March. “Trump may have won the November election, but we are here to say we will never, ever, be complicit in the kind of fascist programming that he is threatening to put in place.”

To close out the march, Woodard Henderson invited the crowd to chant once more: “I believe that we will win.”

In the face of a Trump inauguration that loomed just two days away, the People’s March is a symbol of the people’s power and the United States’ unwillingness to go silently into the night.