How activist groups across the country adapted their strategies and tactics to their local contexts to keep the protests alive On January 21, 2017, the day after Trump's inauguration, feminist activists and allies across many progressive movements assembled across the United States to express their displeasure with the new President and his agenda. These marches were unprecedented in size, bringing together as many as 5.3 million Americans, with at least 408 protests in cities and towns across the country. These protests were large and dramatic, and had an outsized impact. But, they do not tell the whole story of this wave of contention. Keeping the March Alive follows thirty-five progressive groups founded after the Women's March across ten cities from Amarillo and Atlanta to Pasadena and Pittsburgh to tell the whole story of how some social movement organizations survive and thrive while others falter. Catherine Corrigall-Brown explains how activists navigate their local context and make strategic decisions about tactics, coalitions, individual participation, and online technologies to keep their movements alive. Movements that had the most success in keeping members engaged and active were those that were able to adjust their strategies to their particular local contexts. While in larger and more liberal cities, engaging in expressly political coalitions and cooperating only with other social movement organizations was the most successful strategy, fostering broad coalitions among churches, charities, and businesses was most successful in smaller, more conservative cities. Keeping the March Alive is instrumental in understanding how activism and activist groups can be sustained over time and how larger protest movements can last.

How activist groups across the country adapted their strategies and tactics to their local contexts to keep the protests alive On January 21, 2017, the day after Trump's inauguration, feminist activists and allies across many progressive movements assembled across the United States to express their displeasure with the new President and his agenda. These marches were unprecedented in size, bringing together as many as 5.3 million Americans, with at least 408 protests in cities and towns across the country. These protests were large and dramatic, and had an outsized impact. But, they do not tell the whole story of this wave of contention. Keeping the March Alive follows thirty-five progressive groups founded after the Women's March across ten cities from Amarillo and Atlanta to Pasadena and Pittsburgh to tell the whole story of how some social movement organizations survive and thrive while others falter. Catherine Corrigall-Brown explains how activists navigate their local context and make strategic decisions about tactics, coalitions, individual participation, and online technologies to keep their movements alive. Movements that had the most success in keeping members engaged and active were those that were able to adjust their strategies to their particular local contexts. While in larger and more liberal cities, engaging in expressly political coalitions and cooperating only with other social movement organizations was the most successful strategy, fostering broad coalitions among churches, charities, and businesses was most successful in smaller, more conservative cities. Keeping the March Alive is instrumental in understanding how activism and activist groups can be sustained over time and how larger protest movements can last.

Asked to name an activist, many people think of someone like Cesar Chavez or Rosa Parks--someone uniquely and passionately devoted to a cause. Yet, two-thirds of Americans report having belonged to a social movement, attended a protest, or engaged in some form of contentious political activity. Activism, in other words, is something that the vast majority of people engage in. This book examines these more common experiences to ask how and when people choose to engage with political causes.
Corrigall-Brown reveals how individual characteristics and life experiences impact the pathway of participation, illustrating that the context and period in which a person engages are critical. This is the real picture of activism, one in which many people engage, in a multitude of ways and with varying degrees of continuity. This book challenges the current conceptualization of activism and pushes us to more systematically examine the varying ways that individuals participate in contentious politics over their lifetimes.

Asked to name an activist, many people think of someone like Cesar Chavez or Rosa Parks--someone uniquely and passionately devoted to a cause. Yet, two-thirds of Americans report having belonged to a social movement, attended a protest, or engaged in some form of contentious political activity. Activism, in other words, is something that the vast majority of people engage in. This book examines these more common experiences to ask how and when people choose to engage with political causes.
Corrigall-Brown reveals how individual characteristics and life experiences impact the pathway of participation, illustrating that the context and period in which a person engages are critical. This is the real picture of activism, one in which many people engage, in a multitude of ways and with varying degrees of continuity. This book challenges the current conceptualization of activism and pushes us to more systematically examine the varying ways that individuals participate in contentious politics over their lifetimes.