A burst of sheer righteous joy from King ShaH, while marching up Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. As the year went on, "Black Lives Matter" marches actually encompassed many fights and agendas. This organization, RefuseFascism, was calling for the removal of Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

Black Lives Matter Square in Washington DC on August 28, on a day when it felt like protesters owned the city, and anything was possible.

A primal scream punctuates this Black Lives Matter march through the streets of Bushwick, Brooklyn.

To those of us who returned to the streets night after night to demand justice and change, organizers and march leaders like Kiara Williams seemed like superheroes – powerful, righteous, larger than life.

Livia Rose Johnson, at a rally in Times Square, New York, early summer 2020,

A feeling of hope was in the air. Here, a personal, prayer-like moment on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC.

Community brings joy, even in the face of tragedy. It was not uncommon for a protest march to stop in the middle of a major roadway, where marchers would break into spontaneous dance, song, and celebration of Black joy. Here, led by activist Aloaye Tisor.

Musicans often accompanied marches through the streets of New York, helping to keep the energy high, and adding a bit of entertainment to the event.

At many rallies, a bullhorn would be passed around to those with a story to share. Here, a distraught protester fights through tears to share a story. Union Square, Manhattan.

Letting it all hang out, as more than 200,000 people attended The Commitment March in Washington on August 28, to demand accountability for the murder of unarmed Black Americans.

Protest marches are often depicted as angry and conflict-filled, but those were rare. This march, led by Kimberly Bernard up the West Side of Manhattan, had a touched-by-god feeling of joy.

A lifetime of Black American experience, etched on the face of an attendee at the "Keep Your Knees Off Our Necks" rally in Washington, DC.

A young girl appears strong and wise beyond her years. Brooklyn, New York.

While the marches themselves are mass events driven by a common cause, every person brings his or her own history and emotional state of being out onto the streets. Here, anguish on a cross town street in Manhattan.

While there are always provocative signs at every rally, sometimes it's the face under the words that say the most.

Emerging from an underground tunnel in Brooklyn. Defund the Police was a common call – and a greatly misunderstood message,- – at marches through the year. In the end, despite promises made, police budgets were, in fact, increased in New York and elsewhere.

Qween_Jean, the larger than life founder of Black Trans Liberation, rises triumphantly above a crowd as protesters take over New York's West Side Highway, on the anniversary of Breonna Taylor's killing.