Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Detroit photographer Garrett MacLean‘s project documenting the colorful and theatrical forms of protest in the age of Trump “came from a void, an unexpected absence.” 

“What was expected to be a huge and violent protest of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland never materialized. In the run-up to the July 2016 event, people speculated that tensions in the country would lead to a convention similar to ’68 in Chicago,” says MacLean, who has otherwise been working on a long-term project about Detroit. “But it seemed as if there were more journalists than protesters. So instead of finding confrontation or overflow, I found interesting individuals expressing their support and dissent.”

MacLean soon found himself at rallies for a range of causes, mostly around the Midwest and always seeking out some of the more interesting people. The result is his project “One Nation, Under Protest.”

Over the past year and a half, MacLean says the most compelling protest he shot took place in front of the White House the day after the Juggalo March on Washington and the Pro-Trump Mother of All Rallies gathered at either ends of the National Mall in mid-September 2017. 

“A transgender active-duty member of the US Army drove to DC alone to voice her disapproval of Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military. She asked to remain anonymous but allowed me to take her portrait, given the importance of the issue. At that moment, uncertainty surrounded Trump’s ban and how it would be enacted. She took the time—and possible risk—to stand up for an issue vital to her life.

Though his photos capture only a glimpse of the activism that has erupted in the streets over the last year, MacLean hopes the images help highlight the diversity of the people who take the time and energy to show up in support of causes important to them. 

“I created this series with the goal that it might encourage more people to become politically active by showing some of their fellow citizens who have already decided to do just that.”

Support Transgender Troops rally, White House, Washington, DC

Left: Slut Walk, Palmer Park, Detroit; Right: Mother of All Rallies, Washington, DC

Affordable Care Act support rally, Detroit

Anti-Iraqi deportation rally, downtown Detroit

Juggalo March, National Mall, Washington, DC

Republican National Convention protest, Cleveland, Ohio

Slut Walk, Detroit

Kid Rock protest, Detroit

Kid Rock protest, Detroit

Counterprotest to Westboro Baptist Church, Oak Hills High School, Cincinnati, Ohio

Anti-Iraqi deportation rally, downtown Detroit

Counterprotest to the Westboro Baptist Church, Oak Hills High school, Cincinnati, Ohio

Left: Slut Walk, Detroit; Right: Kid Rock protest, Detroit

Juggalo March, National Mall, Washington, DC

Mother of All Rallies, Washington, DC

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate