In Washington, in a frigid marble plaza only blocks from the White House, early attendees seemed to be outnumbered by barkers hawking T-shirts and buttons.
“I’m disappointed. It’s definitely not the turnout I was looking for,” said Peggy Baron, 53, a lawyer from Dublin, Ohio.
As the morning progressed, throngs of marchers began to fill the plaza, and spirits visibly lifted.
“I came two years ago. It’s definitely smaller, but the spirit is very much alive,” said Rachel Stucky, 53, an educator from Salem, Oregon.
The events around the country were partly a celebration of what has been achieved since the first march. An unprecedented number of women have been elected to Congress, many with the help of women who became politically active for the first time after marching in 2017.
But the gatherings were also a test of how the movement has weathered the storm of controversy in recent months. The New York-based leaders of the national Women’s March group that planned the first march on Washington have been under fire for allegations of anti-Semitism.
Tamika Mallory, co-president of Women’s March, has publicly praised Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, who is widely reviled for anti-Semitic speeches. The Women’s March has issued a series of statements denouncing anti-Semitism and apologized for its delayed response to the controversy, but Mallory has declined to denounce Farrakhan himself.
Some marchers said they were conflicted about whether to come, given the controversy over the anti-Semitism charges. In Washington, Trish Klein, Jody Kanikula and Amy Hain from Chicago said they had an intense discussion before deciding to make the trip.
In the end, they chose to do it, because “apathy is not an option,” said Klein, a 39-year-old special education teacher.
The controversy over Farrakhan added to tensions that were already brewing between the national Women’s March group and some of the local activists around the country who planned marches in their own hometowns.
On Saturday, those divisions manifested themselves in two rival marches in New York and two in Philadelphia.