


On Jan. 21, 2017, America witnessed the dawn of the anti-Trump resistance. Despair at the results of a historic presidential election gave way to a massive worldwide protest, anchored by the Women's March on Washington and supported by millions of people in sister marches in every state and on every continent. 

But after the buses departed, the savage posters were discarded and the pink knit hats were put away, many wondered what would happen to all the outrage. March organizers hoped they could channel it to fuel a new wave of civic activism and to encourage more women to run for office.

Momentum has continued. In October, thousands reconvened at the Women's Convention in Detroit. According to Emily's List, an organization that works to elect more progressive women to office, 2018 is on track to be a historic year for women in politics, with more women saying they plan to run than ever before.

The women of the #MeToo movement have forced a national reckoning on sexual violence.

Q&A: The Women's March is back. Here's what co-president Tamika Mallory says is different.


This weekend, on the anniversary of the march, organizers are again mobilizing — this time to kick off a national voter registration tour. Marches and gatherings will be hosted in local communities across the country, and international events are planned. 

USA TODAY spoke with six women who attended a women's march last year to hear why they protested, how the experience changed them and what their activism looks like now.

'We could not bring ourselves to believe that Americans, especially women, could ... vote into office this misogynistic, irreverent, buffoon'

Name: Denise Migliaccio

Age: 68

Where she lives: Robbinsville, N.J.

Where she marched: New York

On whether she's marching this year: Yes, in New York. "We will be there to let the Donald and his entourage know that we are watching."

Why she marched: "We could not bring ourselves to believe that Americans, especially women, could ... vote into office this misogynistic, irreverent, buffoon," she said. Migliaccio committed to the March in New York and became part of a group called SS4T, Stand Strong 4 Truth.

"Last time I marched was in the late '60s, protesting the war and supporting George McGovern. This felt more important than even that time, those concerns. We felt our country was in danger," Migliaccio told USA TODAY. "My husband and I joined our group ... with a resurgent activism we had not experienced in a very long time."

What it felt like to be there last year: "Emotional," she said. "We thought it was going to be a march, but it was, I'm talking about, like in the nightclub back in the '70s when you can't get to the bar because it's 18 people deep. ... It was amazing, and everyone was friendly. Everyone was courteous because we were all there for the same reason."

How it changed her: Migliaccio said she's more committed to defending her values.

"The only thing I can compare it to is when I was younger, I went to Catholic school, so when you become confirmed it's this 'onward Christian soldier' thing, and I can remember the nuns drilling into us, 'Just remember, don't be afraid to defend your faith,'" she said. "And I kind of felt like a kid again with that. I had to speak up."

Migliaccio said now she speaks up every chance she gets.

What she thinks about #MeToo: "I truly do believe the march and all the ancillary groups that have cropped up have given support, encouragement and strength for women as well as men to come forward with their experiences," she said.

Lasting memory: The moment she grasped the scope of the march.

"It was confusing because they were only letting one side street out at a time, so when you finally got through this herd ... and you looked up, as far as you could see there were people," she said. "That moment was the moment. It took our breath away."

'It has just created an inner circle of trust that can't be broken'

Name: Verna Ingram

Age: 33

Where she lives: Queens, N.Y.

Where she marched: Washington


Why she marched: "People in my family marched for civil rights, and my family is from the South," she said. "It was important to continue that legacy and to make sure everyone's voice is heard."

What it felt like to be there: "Powerful" but also foreboding, she said. Ingram said she couldn't shake the fear of what was to come.

How it changed her: The experience strengthened her relationships with the women she marched with, she said, and inspired her to seek out new relationships with women at work and in her community. 


"We've created a little niche network where we include each other on things that maybe this person on the other side of the company doesn't know about, and even just community events that just go on — if there's any marches going on, we stay connected to each other, and then we spread the word to other women," she said.

Ingram said the march "has just created an inner circle of trust that can't be broken."

After the march, Ingram said she became more active in two groups, Hear Me Code and the professional organization Women in Tech. She said she felt it was important for her, as a black woman, to show other young women, and especially women of color, that they should not be afraid to enter fields where they are under-represented. 

What she thinks about #MeToo: "It resonates a lot," she said. "I know tons of women who have been a part of sexual assault and domestic violence."

Lasting memory: "I was actually over by the (Washington) Monument with another girl and we were talking how we, as black females, have always felt our voices weren't heard and it was really nice to see that not only women of color but other women were there together, united, and that we wanted to continue that trend," she said. "And we took a picture. She had (a sign) that said 'Black Girl Magic,' and I said we had to keep that mindset even when we continue on doing other things. We have to continue to motivate each other. I always go back to that. " 

'Joining this group has been a lifeline for me, a way to funnel my rage into positive action' 

Name: Molly Lee

Age: 52

Where she lives: Portland, Ore.

Where she marched: Portland

On whether she's marching this year: Yes, but there's no march planned in Portland. Lee says she's headed to the city's National March for Impeachment on Saturday with her husband and 17-year-old twin sons. "That's a message I can definitely get behind!" 

Why she marched: Lee said she didn't want to take freedom for granted any longer.

"I think a lot of us woke up the morning after the election and realized how complacent we had been," she said. "I thought I was being a good citizen by voting regularly and reading just enough news articles to be able to vote intelligently and that's about it. That was the extent of my political engagement. And then the morning after the election ... I think we were awakened to a different world."

What it felt like to be there: "Life-affirming," Lee said.

The weather that day was miserable, even for Portland. It was pouring, and everyone was soaked, but it didn't dampen spirits. 

"Knowing that we were all there and we all felt the exact same thing felt like such a unifying experience," she said. "So on the one hand it was physically a little uncomfortable, but emotionally it was a huge high."

How it's changed her: Before the march, Lee said she was a "political neophyte."
Since then, she has attended marches for science and tax reform. She joined the board of Nasty Women Get Shit Done PDX and attended the Women’s Convention in Detroit.

Lee says Nasty Women changed her life.

"Joining this group has been a lifeline for me, a way to funnel my rage into positive action," she said.

It's transformed her into something she never would have imagined before the 2016 election.

"A few weeks ago, I was heading out the door to run some errands and was throwing my 'Nasty Women Get Shit Done' hoodie over my Women’s Convention T-shirt and wondered if it was too much," she said. "'I look like an activist,' I remember thinking. With surprise, I realized that I was an activist."

Lee also said the march made her realize that she lacked Asian women role models. And then, as fate would have it, it gave her one — an Asian woman she met at the Women's Convention who was strong and outspoken and, in Lee's eyes, worth idolizing.

"I didn't realize what I was missing until I saw it," she said.

What she thinks about #MeToo: Lee said #MeToo may be the "silver lining" to Trump's presidency.

"We just accepted it as just part of life, but this enraged us so much this year, when President Trump was elected, that we finally said, 'We're not going to take it anymore.' I almost think, and I would never want to wish for Trump, but we almost needed someone as horrible and divisive as that for the pendulum to swing back, and I'm hoping for huge grand successes in the midterm elections and, for God's sake, in the next presidential election," she said.

Lasting memory: The response to her Nasty Women flag. 

"Having people stop us every half a block to take our picture, or run up and ask where they could get that — having this unifying message to stand behind, literally, and having so many people affirm that 'yes, this is the America that we believe in, too' was something that really resonated with me."

'I feel like we are fighting for a new age of feminism where all forms of femininity are not just included, but honored and cherished'

Name: Lara Americo

Age: 33

Where she lives: Charlotte, N.C.

Where she marched: Washington

Why she marched: "I felt like it was a historic moment where we had elected someone who had a complete disregard for marginalized people, and I thought it was important to march and be present," she said.

What it felt like to be there: "Euphoric," she said. "There were so many people there, in the streets, standing up for equality." 

On whether she's marching this year: No. As a transgender woman of color, she did not feel like the march was as inclusive as it should have been.

"I felt like one of the biggest problems about the march last year is that it centered white women," she said. "White women are the least marginalized people and need the least support."

It was upsetting, she said, to hear chants thanking police, when "police statistically and historically have not kept people of color safe. I just can't be a part of that."

Americo said this year she does not feel like enough has changed for her to support the women's march.

"I feel like the people who marched will show up for one day and then go back to supporting structures that marginalize people like me, and instead of marching — I do the work all year round of supporting other trans people — I feel like I'm going to take my day off, do the opposite of the majority, and keep working the rest of the year," she said.

Americo said she hopes the feminist movement will become more inclusive. 

"I feel like we are fighting for a new age of feminism where all forms of femininity are not just included, but honored and cherished," she said.

What she thinks about #MeToo: "I've had my own experiences with sexual assault and it hurts to be reminded of those times constantly, but ... I feel like #MeToo has been really important in making a statement, in standing up and making voices heard that haven't been heard," she said.

Lasting memory: The oddly comforting feeling of being crushed by the crowds.

"Being in the middle millions of people and being physically suffocated by the amount of people that just didn't have enough room ... and knowing that it was so uncomfortable for such a good reason, and being happy to be that uncomfortable, was strange," she said.

'There is room for everyone to participate in progress'

Name: Jamie Zabinsky

Age: 23

Where she lives: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Where she marched: Washington


Why she marched: Zabinsky, who studied feminism as an undergraduate at Cornell University, didn't initially plan to attend the march. It was her dad who said she couldn't miss it. They decided to go together.

What it felt like to be there: "Overwhelming," she said.

"I couldn't believe how many people were there. I've never been to any kind of event that big. ... Being there with my dad was really special because I basically grew up hearing his stories about Vietnam protests," she said. 

How it's changed her: Zabinsky said she's become more aware of just how intensely black women are marginalized. She didn't fully comprehend their invisibility until she marched in Washington. 

"The crowd felt overwhelmingly white," she said. "There was representation of people of color, but it definitely felt like a very white feminist movement, which worried me."

Zabinsky said since the march, she's "made a conscious effort to buy and read books by women writers of color," including Angela Davis and Samantha Irby. 

More: 27 things to read if you care about women of color

What she thinks about #MeToo: In short, #HerToo.

"A man just harassed me inside of Grand Central Station," she said. "He walked up to me and said, 'Give me a kiss.' That stuff happens all the time."

Zabinsky said she wasn't surprised by the number of women in her social network who posted about #MeToo, and she was glad that the men in her network "were forced to see."

"There is room for everyone to participate in progress," she said. "It doesn't have to be a million person march on Washington. It can be sticking up for someone at Grand Central Station when someone said something to them that was inappropriate. Or it can be checking in with a friend. There's room for everyone to do something."

Lasting memory: Her dad's raw emotion.

"It's sort of because of the way masculinity works in our culture, you remember really strongly any moments when you get to capture your dad crying," she said. "Being there, I think, was very emotionally overwhelming for him, and there's nothing more special than to see your dad overcome with emotion because he's somewhere with you."

'It gave me more confidence as a woman, who happens to be transgender, that I wasn't in this fight alone'

Name: Alaina Kupec

Age: 48

Where she lives: Orange, N.J. (previously Raleigh, N.C.)

Where she marched: Raleigh

On whether she's marching this year: Yes, in Morristown, N.J.

Why she marched: Kupec said she knows what it's like to be a target. 

"After living through the nightmare with HB2 in North Carolina ... and then seeing what I would personally call a nightmare in terms of the presidential election, it was an opportunity to stand up and be heard and to be visible," she said. 

(North Carolina's House Bill 2, known as the "bathroom bill," eliminated local non-discrimination protections for LGBT people and forced trans people to use the bathroom that matches the sex on their birth certificate.)

What it felt like to be there: "Empowering," she said.

"We have a voice, and we expect that voice to be heard and acted upon," she said.

How it changed her: "It gave me more confidence as a woman, who happens to be transgender, that I wasn't in this fight alone," she said.

What she thinks about #MeToo: Kupec, who transitioned five years ago, says she's become increasingly aware of the unique challenges women face. Last summer, she was groped on a subway in New York. She said the sexual assault made her feel "powerless." 

"Being brought up male ... you're never prepared for something like that to happen to you," she said.

Kupec shared her experience with other women, many of whom responded with "me, too."

"It's disheartening that women have had to experience that kind of behavior and endure that kind of behavior and experience that kind of disbelief and shock from men when they share those experiences," she said. "It was very eye-opening to me and one of a number of socialization lessons I've had to learn over the last five years of how women are reacted to and treated."

Lasting memory: The breadth of the march.

"Just to see the sheer number of people — I mean, I had no expectation that the march would be that large in Raleigh," she said. "It was so encouraging to see that — just the people coming together, banding together to be visible and voice their concerns about the attacks on women's issues and to make a statement that they were a force to be reckoned with."

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