The number of demonstrations across the South has ranged from 74 in Mississippi to 673 in Florida — 99% of which were peaceful.
Civil unrest instances per 1,000 residents
January 1, 2021 - October 1, 2021
Nearly 2,500 protests have taken place across the South since January 1, 2021 — occurring across every state. While violent protests commanded the most media attention, 99% of all protests across the South since January 1, 2021 were peaceful. The United States has a long history of protests as an important and effective form of civic activism.1 Research on Civil Rights era peaceful protests revealed that those demonstrations were effective in swaying public sympathy toward the protestors and yielded substantive policy reforms.2,3 In 2009, Tea Party demonstrations generated additional support for Republican candidates and yielded more conservative policymaking.4
From July through September, the largest number of demonstrations (113) across the South were in solidarity with Cuba where protests in July were triggered by severe food and medicine shortages. Mask mandates, particularly for school children, catalyzed about 100 anti-mask protests. However, 56 demonstrations in support of mask mandates and stronger Covid protections took place as well, largely on college campuses. Employer vaccine mandates also prompted 79 protests, many among hospital workers. Nearly 80 demonstrations protested police brutality and bias in the justice system. 46 protests were in support of worker rights — primarily for miners, food workers, firefighters, and nurses — demanding an increase in the minimum wage and better working conditions as a whole. Southerners expressed concern about gun violence through 44 demonstrations. 32 demonstrations took place in support of voting rights, and 21 demonstrations for environmental justice. About 18 protests took place against evictions and substandard housing.
1. “The Loud Minority: Why Protests Matter in American Democracy”. Gillion. Princeton. March, 2020. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691181776/the-loud-minority
2. “The Persistent Effect of U.S. Civil Rights Protests on Political Attitudes”. Mazumder. American Journal of Political Science. October, 2018. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ajps.12384
3. “Agenda Seeding” How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting”. Wasow. Cambridge University Press. May, 2020. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/agenda-seeding-how-1960s-black-protests-moved-elites-public-opinion-and-voting/136610C8C040C3D92F041BB2EFC3034C
4. “Do Political Protests Matter? Evidence from the Tea Party Movement”. Madestam, Shoag, Veuger, and Yanagizawa-Drott. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. November, 2013. https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/128/4/1633/1849540?redirectedFrom=fulltext