From Treetop Living to Walks Across America: 8 Unique Protests You Need to Know

From roller skating nearly 700 miles to spending months in treetops, people passionate about different causes have found unique ways to protest.

The First Amendment protects the rights to share a message, to gather with like-minded people, and to speak to government authorities – within limits. The freedoms of speech, assembly and petition have enabled protest throughout U.S. history.

Discover 8 unique protests from throughout U.S. history

Unique protests like the ones in this article show how people exercise First Amendment freedoms to generate awareness for different causes.

Many of these unique protests were inspired by, and in turn inspired, other new takes on traditional forms of protests like marches and rallies. Some have pushed the boundaries of protected protest or gone to extremes to generate publicity.

1. Fifth Avenue silent protest | July 28, 1917

While the word “protest” may conjure an image of activists shouting or chanting slogans, some unique protests have pushed back at the image of protest as a loud disruption.

New York City’s Fifth Avenue was quiet except for the sound of a drumbeat when the NAACP led Boy Scouts, veterans and religious groups through a silent protest march. Newspapers at the time reported that 5,000 to 15,000 people took part in the unique protest against the racism and discrimination that had fueled riots in East St. Louis, Illinois, earlier that month.

The 1917 silent protest was commemorated in 2024 in East St. Louis.

2. Civil rights sit-in | Feb. 1-July 25, 1960

At first, a sit-in may not sound like a particularly unique protest. But days after four Black students sat at a Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, to protest segregation, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said at a rally, “You have taken the undying and passionate yearning for freedom and filtered it in your own soul and fashioned it into a creative protest that is destined to be one of the glowing epics of our time.”

The sit-in wasn’t yet a popular protest method, but it became a defining form of protest during the Civil Rights Movement.

3. 700-mile roller skate protest | Aug. 17-27, 1963

“Roller Man” Ledger Smith, a 27-year-old semi-professional roller skater, skated nearly 700 miles from Chicago to the 1963 March on Washington. He skated 70 to 80 miles per day over 685 miles with a “freedom” sign pinned to his shirt. His trek protested segregation, racism and discrimination at roller rinks that persisted even after segregation had become officially illegal.

Ledger Smith starts down Michigan Ave. in Chicago on his roller-skating journey to Washington, D.C.

4. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s honeymoon “bed-in” | March 25-31, 1969

Newlyweds John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent their honeymoon in bed to promote peace and love at the height of the Vietnam War.

When Lennon and Ono married, it was a major media event. They decided to capitalize on the attention and use their free speech rights to draw attention to an issue they both cared about.

The pair booked a hotel room in Amsterdam and invited reporters into their honeymoon, teasing a potentially steamy spectacle. But when reporters arrived, they found Lennon and Ono in a weeklong "bed-in" for peace.

The U.S. had escalated rather than ended the Vietnam War under newly inaugurated President Richard M. Nixon. Opposition to the war was growing, and Lennon and Ono were part of the anti-war movement.

At their bed-in for peace, they donned white pajamas and spread an "All You Need is Love" bedspread on their bed. Signs in the room read "bed peace" and "hair peace."

The newlyweds recreated their bed-in again in Montreal. (Lennon couldn't come to the United States due to drug charges.)

They also paid for anti-war billboards in major cities and sent out anti-war cards and posters, extending the reach of their message.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin a seven-day bed-in for peace in a room at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal in 1969.

5. “504” sit-in | April 5-28, 1977

The “504” sit-in began when nearly 150 disability rights activists protesting at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza entered the federal building there. They wanted the government to ensure people with disabilities could access federal facilities in part by enacting disability rights laws such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. More than 100 refused to leave for nearly a month. And although they were illegally trespassing, which is not protected by the First Amendment, law enforcement did not arrest them.

As a result of their protest, federal agencies agreed to pass and enforce accessibility accommodations required by disability rights laws. Activists at the time viewed this as a partial victory for disability rights and built on their momentum to later successfully advocate for more, stronger disability rights laws, particularly the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Today, disability rights activists continue to advocate for better accessibility laws and enforcement where gaps remain.

6. Longest Walk | Feb. 11-July 15, 1978

Over a ten-year period, Indigenous members of the Red Power Movement staged four pilgrimages to Washington, D.C., including the 1978 Longest Walk from San Francisco. The 24 Native activists walked past significant locations in Native history and arrived in Washington marching quietly to a drumbeat.

To protest threats to tribal treaty rights around land and water, the activists met with government officials and demonstrated for a week in D.C. One participant said "I feel that we have reached and educated millions of people. That was what the walk was about. It was a tremendous success.”

According to the National Park Service, Congress passed two “critical laws in protecting Native American rights and freedoms” in the days and weeks following protestors’ arrival in D.C.

Native activists march through Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1978.

7. 649-day tree sit-in at the University of California, Berkeley | Dec. 1, 2006-Sept. 9, 2008

An environmental protest against the University of California, Berkely, cutting down a stand of trees lasted nearly two years.

People climbed into the threatened treetops on Dec. 1, 2006. According to SFGate, “At one point, about 15 people were living in the trees, gliding on ropes between tree-houses, cooking on camping stoves and chatting with onlookers.”

These protesters were technically trespassing, which is not protected by the First Amendment, but it wasn’t until 649 days later that court rulings permitted officials to clear the area of both protestors and trees in September 2008.

8. Pennsylvania union light projections | Various dates, fall 2017

Members of a Pennsylvania union in a dispute with a hotel where union members worked projected messages parodying the hotel’s name and job losses on the hotel building in 2017. A court ruled that their actions were not trespassing or causing a nuisance because the hotel was not significantly harmed.

The court said, “[P]ublic protests typically involve activity or expressive conduct that is designed to call attention to the protesters’ message, which is the very essence of the First Amendment. ... Given that this conduct is constitutionally protected by the First Amendment, ... it did not rise to the level of significant harm required for a nuisance.”

The bottom line on unique protests and First Amendment protections

Unique protests can generate publicity and attention for activists’ issues and causes.

Some unique protests are First Amendment-protected peaceable assembly. Others push the boundaries of protest and lose First Amendment protection by harming others – like climate protestors letting the air out of people’s car tires, Prohibition activist Carrie Nation’s “hatchetations” destroying saloons, and anti-war protestors burning their draft cards.

Where the line between protected and boundary-pushing unique protests is drawn is often up to the courts, who look to the First Amendment freedoms that protect protest and these freedoms’ limits.

This article is compiled based on previously published Freedom Forum content and with the input of Freedom Forum experts.