March portion of Chicago Women's march canceled after 150,000 pack event; march will go on Chicago Tribune

Safety concerns have closed the march portion of the Chicago event. An original crowd estimate of 20,000 was raised to 50,000 this morning. At about 11 am this morning, 150,000 had already reached the rally and Chicago police notified organizers that they were not prepared to protect a marching crowd this size. The rally will continue.

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC at 2pm Saturday, the size of the march is estimated to be 500,000 against an original estimate of 200,000. Currently the march is still scheduled to move, but safety concerns are rising.

March Sites in US & Worldwide

Where Women's Marches Are Happening Around the World New York Times

Hundreds of demonstrations are happening around the world on Jan. 21, 2017 with Washington DC the center of the universe today. The Women's March on Washington broke all records in turnout, making it the largest post-inauguration protest in American history.

Women's March Organizing Committee

TOP ROW (*LEFT TO RIGHT*): TING TING CHENG, TABITHA ST. BERNARD, JANAYE INGRAM, PAOLA MENDOZA, CASSADY FENDLAY, LINDA SARSOUR, BOB BLAND, NANTASHA WILLIAMS, BREANNE BUTLER, GINNY SUSS, SARAH SOPHIE FLICKER. BOTTOM ROW (*LEFT TO RIGHT*): TAMIKA MALLORY, CARMEN PEREZ, VANESSA WRUBLE
PHOTOGRAPHED BY CASS BIRD | SITTINGS EDITOR: JORDEN BICKHAM

A seasoned group of America's female activists gathered at a South Bronx, New York warehouse turned studio for a group portrait by Cass Bird. Vogue writes that this group of determined women are among the organizers behind "the Women’s March on Washington, a mass mobilization of activists and protestors that will descend on the capital on January 21, the day after we inaugurate into office a man who ran the most brazenly misogynistic presidential campaign in recent history, and whose victory has emboldened a Republican-led Congress to wage an epic war on women’s rights."

An early organizer of The Women's March is Bob Bland (top row with flaming red hair) promoted the march on Facebook, where her followership blossomed after she raised $20,000 for Planned Parenthood by selling 'Nasty Women' and 'Bad Hombre' t-shirts. Bland reached out to Hawaiian grandmother and retired lawyer Teresa Shook, who gained 10,000 Facebook people supporting a march as the returns rolled in on November 8.

. . . Soon Wruble became aware of their plan. In her real life she runs Okayafrica, a media platform seeking to change Western perceptions of Africa that she cofounded with her business partner, Ginny Suss (also the march’s production director) and The Roots drummer Questlove. Having worked for years as a white person in a black space, Wruble quickly recognized that Shook and Bland, both white, could not be the sole faces of the protest they were starting to organize. “I think I wrote, ‘You need to make sure this is led or centered around women of color, or it will be a bunch of white women marching on Washington,’” she paraphrased. “‘That’s not okay right now, especially after 53 percent of white women who voted, voted for Donald Trump.’”

Bland agreed, and Wruble reached out to a friend, activist Michael Skolnik, who recommended she and Bland talk to Mallory and Perez. The latter two activists brought Sarsour to the table shortly thereafter.