October 25, 1997
The legacy we honor
On October 25, 1997, hundreds of thousands of Black women gathered in Philadelphia for the Million Woman March — a day of unity, repentance, and resolve built from the ground up by everyday organizers rather than national institutions. It stood for self-determination, family, and the dignity of women too often left out of the national conversation.
As the movement approaches its 30th anniversary (1997–2027), the Committee commemorates that gathering not with nostalgia, and not with another march, but by handing the microphone back to the people through public dialogue — and by gathering what they share into research that informs the work ahead.
What we mean by
Economic apartheid
Economic apartheid describes how the basics of a dignified life — affordable housing, healthcare, childcare, safety, and the ability to simply afford to live — are quietly rationed along lines of race, sex, gender, and socioeconomic status. It is rarely written into law, yet it shapes who can stay in their neighborhood, who can see a doctor, and whose children are cared for.
Our task is to study and document it — to gather testimony and data directly from the people living it, the way a think tank gathers research, so that coalitions of independent entities can be better informed.
“Every voice is testimony. Every story counts. The agenda belongs to the people who live it.”
The Committee & the Institute
Who we are
The Committee to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Million Woman March is a project of The Institute on Economic Apartheid — a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank that collects data and promotes public dialogue, not a marching or protest organization. Through town hall open-mic dialogues and a broad coalition of businesses, agencies, organizations, jurisdictions, individuals, and institutions, we are surveying grassroots affordability and the real impact of economic apartheid on residents’ rights, access, and privileges — gathering research so coalitions of independent entities can be better informed, beginning in Chicago on October 25, 2026.
Learn more about the Institute at theinstituteoneconomicapartheid.org.
Be part of the 30th anniversary.