But the organisation carried on. In 2018, Women’s March leaders helped rally against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as he faced questions about allegations of sexual assault.
Then, in 2020, they held a vigil for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was known for her work on gender equality.
And in 2022, when the Supreme Court eventually did overturn the federal right to abortion, Women’s March organisers launched a “summer of rage”, with protests from coast to coast.
But the group has also continued to weather controversies about its membership.
In 2018, for instance, a founding member alleged she was pushed out of her leadership role over her Jewish faith. The outcry over anti-Semitism led other leaders to step down. Critics also accused the group of sidelining people of colour and whitewashing feminism.
By 2019, the movement saw much smaller numbers than at its previous yearly marches, leaving some attendees disappointed.
The organisation has since brought on new leadership such as Tamika Middleton, its managing director since 2021. She acknowledges that the organisation has had to evolve to keep up with the times.
“I think we’re always in learning, and I think we’re always in practice, right?” she said. “Our values don’t always land in our practice in the ways that we intend them to.”
Middleton, who describes herself as part of “a southern Black radical tradition”, told Al Jazeera that this year’s annual protest — dubbed the People’s March — will not try to recreate the mass momentum of 2017.
Instead, she hopes that Tuesday’s People’s March will bring together a broader coalition of activists interested in advancing the rights of immigrants, LGBTQ+ people and the poor, as well as women.
“We are recognising the connection between all of these battles and that there is a threat, there is opposition that is beyond Trump,” Middleton said.
The shifting trends within the movement were on display last November when the Women’s March helped organise an impromptu protest outside the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
It was the weekend after the 2024 election, and Middleton noticed a difference in how the protesters were reacting to Trump’s most recent victory.
“When Trump was elected the first time, there was sort of this kind of outrage that really grew, really quickly,” she explained. “And this time what we saw, yes, we saw some outrage. We also saw frustration, we saw disappointment, we saw grief. We saw a lot of sadness.”
For Marie, the activist who attended the 2017 march in San Francisco, the last four years under Democratic President Joe Biden have also contributed to a change in public mood.
Under Biden, the US continued to provide unconditional military aid to its ally Israel — even while the Middle Eastern country waged a devastating 15-month war on Gaza, killing more than 46,800 Palestinians. United Nations experts have found Israel’s tactics in the enclave to be “consistent with genocide”.
Marie explained she sees recent events as part of a “legacy of violence” that extends beyond party lines.
“Trump is not the bogeyman,” said Marie. “This is a nation that prioritises bombs, and specifically bombing children over educating them.”
Political change, she added, requires more sustained activism than what a single yearly protest can provide.
“The action it takes to shift that government is not a couple of hours on a Saturday with a couple of signs,” Marie said. “We’ve left the domain of cutesy protest.”