Black Lives Matter Plaza

Washington, D.C.

Site of 2020 civil rights protests.

In 2020, nationwide protests against police brutality and for racial equality occurred following the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville.  Beginning in late-May, thousands of peaceful marchers took to the streets of DC to join in the protest.  On June 1, 2020, the demonstrators were met with violence and tear gas by federal forces between Lafayette Park and St. John’s Church, near the current site of the plaza.  Four days later, the Black Lives Matter mural was unveiled in 50-foot-tall letters along a two-block area of 16th Street NW, just blocks from the White House.

 To learn more about Black history and culture in our nation’s Capital, click here.