The Women Who Marched on Washington, in Their Own Words
Photograph by Gina LeVay.Annie Warriner, 13, Madison, WI
Her greatest fear: “That my education will be destroyed and I will no longer be allowed to attend colleges that I would like to, or that their quality will go down because of budget cuts, and stuff like that.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Arda Ismail (17); Ekram Ali (23), Virginia and Ohio
“My greatest hope is for us to overcome.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Annie-Rose London (27), Oakland, CA
“I think that the women’s movement is coming back and we’re getting better at being intersectional, and being conscious about bringing all women into the story.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Jennifer Dy (36), Renee Robinson (35); Ohio
“We were appalled by the tone of the election and this is the beginning of us trying to do something.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Dana Basha (22); Michigan
“I do a lot of refugee work, so I want to continue advocating with policy makers. I know that a lot of the Republican party is going to be taking a lot of different offices, so I want to continue to tell them that they are humans, just like us. They are seeking solace and seeking freedom.”
Della Harrington (62), Cicily Harrington (36), London Harrington (22 months); Upper Marlboro, MD
“Him building a wall, separating families, inequality for women, just for everyone, and just separating the whole country. Everything that Dr. King built, I'm afraid he's going to try to tear it down, and everything that Obama worked for, he wants to reverse.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Audrey Green (56); Chapel Hill, NC
“I’m mostly here because I feel like I haven’t been very active and that I also have to own the fact that I’ve been complacent, and I’m here to say ‘No more.’ The Serenity Prayer used to be kind of a spiritual thing for me, and I’m done with the Serenity Prayer . . .There’s gotta be something we can do, and I’m here to learn about that.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Ellionnah Spicer (3), Hailley Stratton (22), Devin Spicer (25); Moosup, CT
“They were cussing us out in front of our child wanting to fight my wife,while she's carrying my daughter, over our opinion. They don't even know our opinions.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Jillian Baskett (24), Eduardo Lopez (25); Richmond, VA
What are your greatest hopes and fears for the next 4 years?
Lopez: Tolerance from our new president. For me, to be able to actually call him my president.
Baskett: That has been a really hard thing to do, especially in these last couple days, with it seeming real—well, it’s really real now. It’s been hard to accept that he’s our president.
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Kendall Hale (66)
“I’m actually afraid that we might slip into ‘law and order’, which to me is a false form of fascism. It really is. And I’m very frightened for our democracy, so my hope is with women in the lead, and with our allies, and with all of the other movements combined, that we will really defend the Constitution and expand the rights of women.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Liane Faermann (54), Pennsylvania; Stephanie Herold (29), NYC.
Liane: I'm marching for Latino immigrant rights and for my daughters. I have three. She's the oldest.
Is this your first March?
No, my second March. We marched in 2004 for the Women's March in the Mall.
How does this compare to that March?
It's I think 180 degrees different. There's a lot more energy, a lot more people. I don't remember the rallies back then.
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Sheldan Jeffries (22), Ryan Scarzella (23); Ellicott City, MD
Jeffries: We’re married. We’re in an interracial relationship. We’re worried about our children having to grow up in a world where there’s hate. We don’t want that.
Scarzella: You see some signs out here talking about [going] 100 years back…it did feel like that, and it does still feel like that, unfortunately. But it’s good to see this many people have hope.
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Kristen Becker (40); Provincetown, MA
“I think I expected this many people, but I still feel like it’s a little overwhelming . . . Because we just got disappointed a little while ago. We all thought we had it, right? You come to this and you’re like, ‘uh, I’m a little nervous with what’s going to happen?’ So it’s surprising even though I hoped for it.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Amy Sullivan (29), Miley Ferreia (“My thirties”); San Francisco
“We stopped at the Starbucks and this lady, she was like, ‘Where are you guys coming from?’ And we said, ‘San Francisco.’ And she's like, ‘Please let me pay for your coffee and your breakfast. You came from so far.’ And she's a single mom with four kids. She's like, ‘Thank you for marching with us.’ And it's just beautiful how many amazing women and powerful it's getting together to really make a difference and come together to change what's going on.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Terry LePage (54); Irvine CA
“I hope that I will not become like what I hate. I hope that I will stay positive and respectful, and work from love and not from hate. That's really important to me, and that this movement does the same. I think we did a pretty good job today.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Tracy McDowell (36); Arlington, VA
“I’m marching for the victims I served as an advocate [for sexual assault victims] at an Army base in Germany. I’m marching for my son, whom I want to know a better future than what’s being presented. Just for women.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Enzo Steward (4), Jamire Steward (39); District of Columbia
Thousand of men attended the march as well.
Jemaire: If push comes to shove, you might find us running for office.
Oh. Like school board, or ... ?
Beyond school board. I'm looking for Congress. They need some real men in Congress . . . I have been an investment banker. I don't want to say I have sold some stocks to some high people that's up in the office right now, but I'm not going to touch any toes on that, but I know how that stock market work, and the way the stock market is working ... This is America. Donald Trump is a businessman now/he's the president. I give him weight. He made it. I don't take that from him, but you cannot run America as a business, despite it's an organization. You can't do that.
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Darius Harper (16), Baltimore, MD
“My greatest hope is that we survive the next four years, truly. And my greatest fear is that my rights, as an African-American gay male, being taken away from me, and the rights of my mother being taken away from her.”
- Photograph by Gina LeVay.
Alex Paik, New York; Fiona Paik (4)
“I’m worried that my daughter is going to have to grow up hearing racist and sexist things, even though she’s second generation, born here in the United States. I don’t really have much hope for the country right here.”