Thesis

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor James L Peacock, for his enthusiastic encouragement, his patient guidance, and constructive criticism that greatly shaped the course of my thesis. As well, I would like to thank my thesis committee, Pamela Cooper and Dorothy Holland, who took time away from their busy schedules to help me improve my final product. As well, I would like to thank all those who organized or attended the Moral Monday protests--- your actions not only are an inspiration, but it was a pleasure to get to protest with you. Finally, I’d like to thank my family and friends for supporting me throughout this process,

without whose never-failing empathy and encouragement this thesis would not have been

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ABSTRACT

This thesis examines the construction of the activist identity at the Moral Monday movements that occurred over the summer of 2013 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Since the

beginning of the Moral Monday movement, over 900 individuals have been arrested in protest of the new legislation that they believe to be “immoral” and detrimental to North Carolina. The

Moral Monday movement was able to grow dramatically throughout the summer due to the

structuring of the activist identity, that accessibly allows frustrated citizens a space in that they

can be transformed into activists. Through the analysis of field notes and forty-four images of

poster signs, this thesis analyzes both the process of becoming a Moral Monday activist, as well

as the influence of the Moral Monday protesters in shaping the movement. It is crucial to analyze

the foundational elements of this movement to gain a better sense of where this movement is

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List of Figures

Figure 1. “Miss Pro-choice” protester with her protest sign 22 Figure 2. American Girl Doll posed with a Women United for

Reproductive Health poster

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Figure 3. Moral Monday protest sign about North Carolina Leadership 34 Figure 4. Two handmade Moral Monday protest signs held up by a

Moral Monday protester

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Figure 5. Poster sign about education cuts at the 14th Moral Monday wave

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INTRODUCTION

Setting the Stage for Protest

It’s a hot North Carolina Monday in July 2013 as a crowd gathers in the state capital of Raleigh to protest recent legislation passed by a newly-elected state legislature and Governor as part of a series of grass roots protests called Moral Mondays.Thousands of women, men,

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one another and sway to the music, and the rest of the masses encircle them, their bonds with one another solidify and create the community of the Moral Monday activists.

According to anthropologists like Grimes, “Those with the power to shape the

representation of a ritual also, in effect, own the ritual and thus control the version of the event that is repeated and ascribed in the public memory”(2011: 210). Building upon this idea, when movements are reliant upon the individual actors, the actors are able to affect the movements and the way in which individuals relate to this movement. Madison’s Acts of Activism echoes this same notion in the discussion of how the everyday performances of activism make activism accessible to mass populations, as well as able to perform their activist identities through multiple contexts. This performance of activism is crosscutting, transforming and melding different issues, causes and identities (Madison 2010: 68). These ideas would become integral to protest rituals of Moral Mondays. In the Moral Monday protests, the ability to transform activist identities and crosscut preexisting, and potentially conflicting, identities distinguishes these protests from other social-justice movements. The activist identities of the Moral Monday protestors were shaped and changed by the individual identities of the people who attended the protests.

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(Stutzman 2013: 1). The Moral Monday demonstrations began outside the North Carolina General Assembly building on Halifax Mall on May 6, 2013, with a group of less than 20 activists who were mostly clergy (Stutzman, 2013: 2). The protests quickly gained momentum, expanding beyond clergy to include activists from many different backgrounds and occupations. These weekly gatherings, organized and structured by the NAACP and other activists groups, grew to thousands of protesters (Stutzman 2013: 1-4).

One of the most noteworthy elements of the Moral Monday movement is the particular demographic composition of the activist identity. Over the summer of 2013, researchers from University of North Carolina (“UNC”) conducted a survey of 316 protesters at the June 17th Moral Monday at Halifax Mall. Of those 316 surveyed, 25% of the sample group was under the age of 36 and another 25% was over the age of 64 with a median age of 53. 60% were women and nearly 80% were Caucasian. Despite allegations by Governor McCrory that the protests were the work of outside agitators, the study showed that only 5 of the 316 people surveyed provided a home address that was outside of North Carolina. While the groups that participated in the protests varied from week to week, this data is helpful in providing a snapshot of the variety of the citizens who chose to participate in this activist movement. The study itself concludes that the movement will continue to grow, and as it does, the demographics of the movement will change as well, as the protests continue to become more inclusive (Stutzman 2013: 1-5).

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participated in civil disobedience at the Moral Monday events, up through June 12, 2013. While the Civitas Institute investigators set out with the intention to disprove that Moral Monday was a North Carolina based movement, their data proved that most of the protestors were from the state. Although the presentation of the data, and the questions selected, was conducted with a political bias, this data is useful in gaining a sense of the variety of individuals willing to be arrested as a part of the Moral Monday movement. According to the study, 62% of those arrested were over the age of 45, while only 22% of those arrested were under the age of thirty. It notes that 56% of those who were arrested were employed, and that 80% of those arrested were white (Civitas Staff 2013). While the data in both of these studies are consistent and help us identify by general categories the activists who attended Moral Monday protests, both studies raise concern in the way they fragments the individual experience into particular identity elements. As a result, the presentation of the study diminishes the protester experience not recognizing that it is the emerging protester identity such challenges the status quo by uniting demographic categories.

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citizens participated in these movements because these protests were viewed positively, and this inclusiveness helped to give “faces” to the movement. Through the reconceptualization and crafting of an alternative meta-narrative, Moral Mondays have effectively been able to create an activist identity which is easy to assimilate with previous identities, allowing the movement to grow rapidly (Goodnow 2013: 4).

Moral Mondays are important to understand fully because they are able to cultivate a particular kind of activist identity which is place-specific, highly structured, accessible to multiple different identities, and responsive to those individuals who are looking to shape the movement. By providing a particular kind of activist identity, the Moral Monday movement effectively eliminates some of the work in cultivating an activist identity, allowing more individuals to gain access to and join the collective community.This identity is shaped by the individuals who join the movement, and therefore it is important to analyze how individuals involved express their own identities. This paper looks to provide a clearer understanding of the Moral Monday movement through the analysis of poster signs that individuals held during the Moral Monday movement, as well as through observations and reflections on the ritualistic process of becoming a Moral Monday activist.

The identity of the Moral Monday brand of activism is important to study because of its notable position to provide insight on the success of the Moral Monday campaigns. While most articles and stories look either at the demographics or the politics of the Moral Monday

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THE PROTEST IDENTITY

It’s 95 degrees outside and the sun has no intention of going down any time soon. Protesters began assembling well before the unofficial 4:30 start time, and the crowd is beginning to swell with a sea of colors and vibrancy. As the bodies begin to pack towards the stage, holding signs up high and participating in the chanting and swaying, the music begins to encircle the crowd. People are greeting one another, asking questions, gathering information about as much of their surroundings as they can take in at one time. The community appears to be roughly split in half between those who have attended previous Moral Mondays and those for whom this Moral Monday is their first time. Between the media, legislature and word of mouth, the numbers at the protest continue to grow until Halifax Mall in Raleigh, North Carolina is no longer big enough hold all the protesters.

This is the Moral Monday protest environment. For many, Moral Mondays form a rite of passage, as a transition into a full-fledged activist identity. For two months this summer I

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extend beyond merely protesting certain conditions; they are actively participating in a ritualized process which they’re hoping will lead to some sort of new consciousness, one which allows them access to an identity that they believe will help lead to social change.

The Protest Literature

There are several different ways in which performing activism is able to challenge the status quo political identity. According to Madison, there are three different ways in which these performances can challenge and shape identity. The first is through the challenge of the script, in which the scripted performance of activism can create the reality of change. The event of the protest is structured to meet a certain end, and the established narrative is given to the protesters as a tactic to then change the being into an activist. Second, the common performance works to make the everyday reality a performance. This can either occur from the changing imaginary or the ideal realities, but both create gateways for individuals to easily recognize and accept the performance. For example, as Madison shows, the women in Ghana have been able to integrate small acts of performing resistance into the everyday lives of Ghanaians through the

performance of street protests against domestic violence. Individuals begin to see these demonstrations as a part of the everyday reality, and then are able to engage with those

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The identity of the individual is not merely an external portrayal however. The

internalization of these larger social identities is quite commonplace, and different identities and symbols are adopted and co-opted through a variety of different means. Individuals largely internalize elements of their identity in very different ways due to the different elements of their personal history, predispositions, and affective tendencies (Wagoner 2010: 246)

For individuals to become activists, they have to recognize their capacity for change. Change, for both the individual, and the society, is a process. In order for a change to occur, traditionally scholars like Michel Foucault have argued that individuals have to change their selves in order to be able to change their society. In order for this to occur, identity needs to be outside the self in order to reorganize society. Institutions are based on their societies, and it is only through changes to these societies that institutions will change (Foucault 1982: 780). Social change then becomes personified, so the institutional forces assimilate to the will of the people who produce them. According to Holland, as with Foucault, action involves both the self and the group, this leads persons, acting at agents, to form collective actions in response to social

situations they encounter locally or through imagination (Holland 2001: 30).

How is it then that individuals personify social change? The activists ritualize the performance of social change. As Grimes notes, this performance of ritual is a foundational action for social change. It can band groups together, creating an identity of insiders uniting against a common other. It also creates a cohesive, collective model for action, creates a network to communicate information, and creates a common set of values that allows the group of

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symbolic connections, which help to encourage individuals to participate in social change (Grimes 2011: 220).

As noted by Smith in Disruptive Religions, it becomes easier for groups to be able to get to a shared “definition of the situation” when there is an identity, like a religious identity, which can define others who share that identity and create a workable reality (1996: 17). The

individuals participating in movements then can make sense of which rituals and symbolic traditions are going to have the largest impact. This is not limited to religious identity, and in many ways the easy construction of any identity could bring groups together to help structure and form a more collective activist identity (1996: 17). This definition of the situation, however, is subject to and bound by a certain geographic and cultural structure, which helps to provide some organization to the identity.

Space itself becomes crucial to the performance of identity, specifically activist identities. Changfoot notes this idea in the discussion how resistance is able to permeate the everyday realities of individuals. Resistance manifests itself by invading the public space and

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If we are to presume that a crucial element to understanding the performance of

resistance is the actors involved, it is necessary to grapple with how actors then adopt an activist identity. Changfoot discusses this phenomenon with the creation of the “artivist,” which she believes to be the basis of how performances are able to sustain themselves. The artist- activist is able to merge these two identities, operating within public spheres while advancing social justice movements (2007: 132). Since dominant forms of power often serve as major barriers to

collective action, the construction of a mass activist identity is done as a way to minimize individual risk through a large common community (Changfoot 2007: 134). This identity is one which is bounded to a certain place and space, since many “artivists” burn out, or decide to pursue other projects, dropping the activist identity as quickly as it was gained. Even with this burnout, the activism is able to continue on, as more individuals are able to adopt the identity as they join the space. Any activists then are able to come to the defined public space and perform together in such a manner in which they all feel comfortable and part of a community. Changfoot even argues that the individuals are conscious of this element of public performance (2007: 139).

The Construction of a Moral Monday Protest Identity

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the Moral Monday protests watching the movement grow and develop, and the collective identity of the Moral Monday protester shift and change.

The NAACP carefully constructed the issues presented at the protests to ensure that all special interests would have a Moral Monday that focused on an identity issue that they found important to themselves. For example, some Moral Mondays were focused on women’s issues others on education and still others on the voter id law. Regardless of the actual context of the Moral Monday protest that week, individuals would come out to every Moral Monday protesting their own issues, continuing to work to make sure their stories and their agendas were heard. Their challenges were accepted. While the organizers attempted to direct and focus the attention of the protesters throughout the protest, mostly to ensure that the movement remained non-violent, individuals continued to participate in the movement in their own ways, promoting the issues that mattered most to them. Since the Moral Monday movement is so heavily reliant upon the people, the issues which most individuals were talking about, or had marked on their signs, would generally be added to the agenda for the next week.

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the movement to gain traction among the North Carolina residents. The rhetoric makes it easier to join the collective activist community, because it uses the legacy of prominent activists in North Carolina’s past to encourage local citizens to fight for justice and change in the present day. Not only is activism framed as a civic responsibility, but it is also their historical burden to continue to struggle for justice, albeit in a controlled environment.

! Potentially one of the most important works to consider when analyzing the performance of Moral Mondays is Victor Turner’s From Ritual to Theatre, in which he explains how the performance of identity is crucial in order for group metamorphosis to occur. He states that ceremony and ritual operate both as explanation of life itself, as well as the means to

explicate the human experience (1982: 13). It is not simply enough for an individual to possess a meaning for themselves. In order for this experience to contain value, it must be expressed, and expressed in a way that makes it communicable to those around her/him (Turner 1982: 14). The “social dramas,” or the rituals which are performed in the public sphere, are just as telling about the characteristics of the individual, through their rhetoric style, personal style and choices made (1982: 9). Thus the ritual transforms the individual through the performance, while allowing the individual identity to become fully recognized.

While the expression and markers are much clearer when analyzing the poster signs, there are still many elements of self that are present through observation of the Moral Monday movement. For example:

Field Notes July 15, 2013: Reverend Barber steps up to the microphone. The

noise of the crowd, greeting one another, is rising considerably since he stepped

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bellows states “Fired Up!” to which the crowd roars back responds “Ready to

go!” This continues for about a minute before Barber begins his introduction to

the event. At this point, the crowd is gathering around all sides of the stage,

attempting to get a better view. Several individuals are holding up their cameras

and phones, attempting to record the crowd. Reverend Barber begins to call out

all of the large groups of people who he knows have come to attend the Moral

Monday event; each time a name is announced, a section of the crowd erupts in

cheers and applause. This makeshift roll call seems to provide the groups with a

better understanding of who comprises the rest of the cohort of activists. He then

begins to introduce the individual who will be the Master of Ceremonies for the

event and begins to start his diatribe on the voter suppression laws. He works in

occasional pauses throughout his speech, giving members of the crowd

opportunities to respond to his words with “THAT AIN’T RIGHT” or “SHAME.”

While he solicits some phrases from the crowd that were part of the ritual of

previous Moral Mondays, the crowd also makes up its own phrases to respond

with, and begins to interrupt the Reverend’s speech in moments in which he had

not left pauses.

This call and response prompting is largely characteristic of the movement, and a

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in the crowd. This gives the protesters the space to express which markers of the movement they identify with the most, not just what the movement speaks about as a collective. It also, however, offers up the opportunity for those in the crowd to understand what issues matter most to those around them, creating connections and a group bond. Consistent with Turner’s discussion of identity, the bond and interaction between those standing in proximity to each other provides the reinforcement necessary to validate the identity of the protester, as well increases the intimacy between the protesters. The group cohesion also helps to create bonds among the protesters that are necessary as they begin to undergo the process of adopting the activist identity.

Moreover, the call and response ritual also provides a space for further identity construction, as protesters assimilate their activist identity when they knowingly respond to anticipated prompts from previous Moral Monday protests. For example, some individuals would approach the microphone and state, “When I say fired up, you say ready to go.” He or she would then yell “Fired Up!” to which the crowd would respond “Ready to go!” These call and responses also are a part of the structure provided by the Moral Monday organizers to make the event more accessible, by helping to provide a script of the performance to the individuals in the crowd. As a result, there is a tension which is created between the structure of the protest

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The passage from one status, or even one identity, to another is often enhanced with a transition into a distinct separate space. While this can either present itself as a simple action or as a literal movement into a new space, Turner notes that these spaces are distinct from one another: one is the space pre-ritual, and the other is the space during and post-ritual. Before entering this space, the subjects are undefined beyond the norms of the social structure; during the ritual, however, they become free of these social constraints and are separated from the structure (Turner 1982: 25-27). Halifax Mall is that space for the Moral Monday Movement.

Field Notes July 8th, 2013: I arrived at Halifax Mall a little early today, around

4:20 PM, to get ready to pass out flyers as part my non-profit organization. The

stage is still being set up on the mall, and has been moved from its location in the

previous weeks to the center back of the field, away from the North Carolina

General Assembly. This was done presumably to be able to pack more individuals

into the space, as well as to get better images of the streams of protesters in front

of the NC General Assembly. Some other organizations were also present, passing

out flyers and signs to volunteers, getting ready for the anticipated rush of people.

The temperature is at least 90 degrees, and we all attempt to gather in any shade

we can find. The organizers are covered in sweat already as they sprint up and

down the field getting pumped for the protest. Around 4:30 PM, protesters begin

to arrive in groups. Large charter buses let off masses of people at the corner of

Salisbury and Jones Street, and they make their way up the right set of stairs onto

the field. Many have already begun chanting or talking loudly, breaking the

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and they’ve begun to stake a claim to certain spots. It quickly becomes harder to

find room in the shade. The group organizers spring to life, moving through the

crowd, passing out flyers and engaging protesters. Some start passing out

petitions to be signed and the cloistered groups of individuals begin to break

down a bit more. As five o’clock draws closer, individuals move to begin to crowd

in front of the stage.

The Moral Mondays protests are exceptional because not only are they generally defined by a North Carolinian identity, with rhetoric focused on North Carolinians taking North Carolina back, but all of the protests over the summer take place in one central location of Halifax Mall, behind the NC General Assembly. This site is important for a multitude of reasons. First, the location of Halifax mall harkens back to the protests of Martin Luther King, Jr and other social activist movements, in the way that they position the leaders and the activists throughout a defined space. Thousands of individuals, many traveling significant distances across the state, pouring out to stand on a government mall at the foot of the stage, protesting societal inequality, and listening to charismatic leaders speak. The location is also important as well. Halifax Mall is not only behind the legislative building, but is also surrounded by other governmental buildings, such as the N.C. Department of Education, all in the State Capital. This creates an inherent political nature to the space, which allows for a public space for individuals to be able to act politically. All of the protests conducted over the summer at least begin at Halifax Mall, making the space one which became designated as a specific space of protest. This last note is of

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The way that individuals are best able to express themselves in this manner is through the performance of a ritual. This ritual is a performance because it relies extensively on the

enactment of an identity, and not just on rules and structure. This performance of ritual can even generate changes and transformations on its own. The ritual serves as a model, or a general structure, which is the basis of what the ritual hopes to inspire in those transitioning through the ritual (Turner 1982: 79, 82).

If Moral Mondays are in fact a ritual, which evokes an activist identity from an individual in the given space, what elements of performance are present 0n Moral Mondays?

Field Notes June 3rd, 2013: As the band performs more energetically, the crowd

responds by swaying and joining in the singing. “Keep your eyes on the prize, oh

Lord” can be heard emanating from multiple parts of the crowd as the dancing

continues. Several times, the lead singer holds her microphone out to the crowd,

encouraging them to sing with her and get louder. When the song finishes, the

Reverend Michael B. Curry, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina,

takes the stage. He begins with a call to action, calling out to the crowd and

repeating his words for added emphasis, to which the crowd gets louder with each

response. “We’re going to stand up for love!” “Amen!” “We’re going to stand up

for justice!” “Amen!” As he finishes his speech, the crowd erupts into cheers and

begins another rousing chant of “Forward together, not one step back.” The

chant is spontaneous. The crowd no longer relies on the speaker to solicit

responses from the crowd. As an emcee takes over the microphone to provide

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cheers and chants from the crowd grow louder. Then the crowd parts to permit

those individuals egress to the N.C. General Assembly.

The active engagement of the Moral Monday crowd indicates their progressing

investment in the Moral Monday movement. Most of the music of the movement references God or a higher power with much of it being old spirituals about about justice. As the crowd is

involved in the singing of these spirituals, they become a part of the Moral Monday activist identity in that space, moving and articulating themselves in a way that they would generally not outside of the Moral Monday context. The individual is drawn to the Moral Monday crowds, either as a result of emotions or intrigue, and then begins to participate in the music and chants, slowing beginning to evoke her or his own activist identity. The structure allows for the

individual to create her/his own adaptation of the activist identity, and the repetition of rhetoric, the inspiration of the music and building excitement of the crowd serves as the gateway for the transformation into this identity.

Field Notes June 3rd, 2013: The group getting ready to participate in civil

disobedience begins to form a line to march into the NC General Assembly.

Reverend Barber and other NAACP members form the front of the line, followed

by members of the clergy, followed by any other protestors wanting to engage in

civil disobedience. The Moral Monday activists on Halifax Mall split down the

middle to create a walkway for these individuals to pass through them. As the civil

disobedience participators walk by, members of the surrounding crowd stick out

their hands for high fives, to greet and support their fellow activists. Many

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other individuals to receive hugs before heading in. Camera crews follow the

protesters up and down the line, gathering images of well over a hundred people

headed into the building. The crowd breaks out into another unsolicited chant of

“Forward together, not one step back.” This time, the chant is said much faster,

repeated quicker and is much louder than any previous versions at the event. As

the line begins to dwindle more, the crowd chants “thank you,” as a final

encouragement to the protesters headed inside the NC General Assembly. After all

the future arrestees enter into the building, the rest of the crowd begins streaming

in, heading to the observation deck area, to continue supporting the activists

down below.

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SIGNS OF PROTEST

Figure 1: A young female Moral Monday protester dressed as “Miss Pro-choice” holds a poster sign she made at a Moral Monday protest.

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While this text is filled with buzzwords from the activist movement, the young activist is also actively reinforcing her own identity and stake in the movement throughout the entire protest. As well, the hand-drawn crown on the sign emphasizes her self-respect and authority over her own identity. She purposely holds the protest sign in front of her face, either indicating that she’s hiding behind the words and images which she has expressed on the sign, or that she is putting something on, potentially adopting the “pageant” persona.

Setting Up the Signs of Moral Mondays

The case of Moral Mondays provides an interesting context through which the symbols of protests can be further analyzed. A collection of 44 photographs were analyzed, gathered throughout eight separate waves of the Moral Monday protests, from early June until early August. The photos, originally collected for use by an organization, were gathered to capture protesters holding up poster signs they had created. The poster sign can betray the identity of an individual, as well as that of a movement, through the symbols present, the rhetoric used,

common colors and themes, as well as how protesters hold the signs as extensions of themselves. These photographs were then analyzed for all of the elements listed above in order to not only gain a better understanding of the individual identity, but also to understand what common themes of the Moral Monday movement these individuals identify.

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and other identifying factors were blurred in the images, the individuals whose signs were included for analysis consented to having their photos taken. This could potentially indicate a pool of protesters and signs which reflect less of the variety of the signs and identities

represented at the protests. While these photos are still highly indicative of the movement, mass generalizations based on the content of the photos should be avoided. Finally, it is also important to note that not every Moral Monday protester held a sign, just as not every protester participated in chants, or was arrested as part of the Moral Monday movement. These images are important to include and study, because it is through the expression of emotions and self, as seen through the poster sign, that the individual at a Moral Monday protest gains a voice.

How does an individual become a Moral Monday protester? There are certain ritualistic elements of the Moral Monday experience which remove the individual from their every day context, and allow him/her to take on the new identity of the Moral Monday protester. Moral Monday provides the space and a communal identity to which individuals are able to relate and to engage in their own identity processes. Neither the NAACP, nor any other organizing party, could ever dictate the entirety of the Moral Monday activist identity. The individual protestors holding the Moral Monday poster signs represented a variety of different backgrounds, races, genders, religions, ages, and socio-economic groups. All of these different factors are

represented in the different signs which they either held, or created themselves.

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social change more generally. That is why, in discussion of the Moral Monday movement, there is nothing particularly distinctive about the individuals attending being protesters --- the policies and political environment have been well documented by media outlets. What is noteworthy about the Moral Monday movement is the transformation of these individuals into activists. The Moral Monday movement contains an undercurrent of social change that arises from the

metamorphoses of the individuals involved.

Each individual joins the Moral Monday protests for a different set of reasons, and each individual enters the transition processes differently. These different background elements become exposed in the signs which they use to demonstrate elements of their identity. Their signs become the means by which they share their identity with the surrounding Moral Monday community. Furthermore, Moral Monday activists use these signs to unite themselves with other Moral Monday protesters, creating and providing them with a collective community with whom they transition into this identity. Most importantly, the protest sign helps the activist to solidify for themselves their own identity and involvement in the movement.

Previous Protest Sign Studies

Symbols are an important tool that individuals use to make sense of the world around them. Therefore, in order to gain a better insight into human nature, it is crucial to look at the symbolic creation processes. Since symbols are shaped by personal experiences to make sense of a larger context, the subjective nature of these symbols provides insight into how individuals view their own identity (Wagoner 2010: 145).

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cultural psychological function (Wagoner 2010: 176). Symbols can either be created by the needs of the individual, or they can be found in an object that already has a common social meaning. It is not just the meaning of objects that can be transformed. An individual’s ability to represent an object can also be shaped and changed, as individuals can use the symbols around them in order to frame the ways in which they are able to conceptualize the world around themselves (2010: 177-78). There is a sense, however, that when objects are rooted in interactions, that the object can only become personally significant if the symbol is recognized by others. In order to fully understand the processes of how objects gain a significant meaning, it is important to address the different contexts and evolution of the symbol over time (2010: 182-183).

In this way, symbols are much more than just a representation of an idea that is valuable to the individual. Symbols themselves can serve as agents of social change. According to Womack, certain symbols are used to aid social change in crisis by motivating people and societies to work towards dramatic social change, in ways previously not considered possible. Even as governments come and go, individual groups will maintain their cultural identities through iconography and symbolic actions. We can then assess the strength of symbols in maintaining these identities through the repetition and different interpretations of the symbols that reinforce their presence in society (Womack 2005: 135). Power itself can be changed and conveyed through symbols that work to reinforce discordant cultural views and emotions (2005: 136). Individuals rely upon these symbols in order to find structure and meaning when ordinary measures fail, and thus understanding the symbol leads to better understanding of the

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Social movements are crucial to construction and maintenance of collective identities. These identities have to signify who they are, what they stand for, as well as what they hope to create. If the identities do not comprise these three components, they are likely to be politically and culturally ineffectual (Smith 1996:17). As Smith notes in Disruptive Religion, these social movements heavily rely on symbols, rituals, narratives, and iconography to shape this collective identity. These symbols then create solidarity in the movement, educate those involved, help articulate values and inspire the populace. All of these factors are essential to creating the adequate foundation of a political movement. Symbols then serve as key resources to shape and continue activism over time (1996: 11).

This leads then to the importance of how individuals view the symbols that are common in society around them. The media, as well as groups and movements, normalize the meanings of certain symbols through methods like branding, and provide communication channels that can let them spread rapidly. As Wiegmink notes, these images can lead to more agendas that can create new ideological codes (Wiegmink 2012: 6). These images and symbols are not static or easily controlled, as Wiegmink implies. Rather, individuals are appropriating images to empower specific actors to join the movement, through the expansion of symbols beyond these local meanings and controlled forms of practices. The use of these images then allows for individual identity to control these larger cultural symbols in a way that reflects their own identity, while shaping the larger struggle (Grimes 2011: 215).

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We must think for a moment of the ritual that is the poster sign creation. From the moment that the protester decides to create a protest sign, s/he is not only choosing to actively engage in the protest, but s/he are choosing to be an active participant, increasing her/his

engagement level in the direction of the Moral Monday protest, by lending his/her own voice to the movement. The individual will likely rely on images and preconceived notions of what this form of expression will look like. The age of the internet has increased the individual access to images of poster signs, allowing for certain ideas of protest to be able to spread. As a result, the construction of the poster sign will then begin. Generally this process will result in the basic elements of poster board or card-stock and markers to draw the signs. This becomes an informal structure of the symbol, the basic element that unites the poster sign as a unified symbol of protest. As the creativity continues to pour out of the individual, they find individual words or symbols with which they identify most strongly, and begin to repeat these symbols for emphasis. In some cases, one side of a sign simply isn’t enough to convey what the individual wants to say: s/he will begin to use the other side of the sign, create multiple signs, even create concepts of signs for other people. After the exercise is over, the individuals are prepared to become Moral Monday activists, because to transition into a Moral Monday activist, they have to ensure that their voices will be heard, which establishes their platform and influence.

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constructing signs indicates a level of identifying with the Moral Monday activist identity. It takes extra effort to create and carry the sign throughout the entire process; that would indicate that the protester felt strongly enough about a particular issue or element of the movement that he/she created a sign through which to extend this identity further.

Each element of the protest sign is intentionally chosen by the individual, to better convey a particular message. For example, the majority of the protest signs relied on the use of bold block lettering. This ensures helps to ensure that the text is more visible across a longer distance. It also helps to ensure that protesters with weaker eyesight at the Moral Monday protests are able to see the text as well. Some of the text that is used is underlined in order to draw the onlooker’s attention to it, or to add a general emphasis to the meaning of the words that the protester is using. For example, one young protester held a sign that read, “ PLEASE

INVEST IN MY FUTURE,” with several lines drawn under “my” for additional emphasis. Stress placed on the “my” indicates the personal investment of the protester in not only her desire for adequate education, but also in her desire to be an active participant in the activist identity construct and protest.

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14th wave of Moral Monday that focused on education cuts. Green became the color of those who were protesting the new environmental policies of the NC General Assembly, and blue became the color of those working to protest the discriminatory policies against the poor. These identity markers often translated not only into the colors that the activists chose to wear while protesting at the Moral Monday events, but also the colors that their poster signs.

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Figure Two:A young Moral Monday protester posed her American Girl doll with a sign that she had received from an organizing group at one of the Moral Monday protests.

For example, let’s analyze the image above. A young female Moral Monday protester has posed her doll with her Moral Monday sign. The sign largely relies on the colors pink and purple, colors that are commonly associated with and symbolic of the women’s rights struggle. While this sign was manufactured by one of the women’s groups attending the Moral Monday protest, it was still an active decision on the part of the protester to not only take the sign, but to pose it with her doll. With this provocative image the message of the text, “United For Women’s

Health,” is extended further, expanding upon the notion that individuals of all ages, no matter of what size, should be united behind this concept of women’s health. This young protester was able to take a manufactured poster sign, that had identity markers that were created for her, and she was able to continue to make them her own.

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Monday movement took up the process of creating poster signs with certain images and symbols that they believe will be helpful, not only to make sure that their individual identities are

projected further, but in attempts to increase traffic back to the organizations. These signs

however still provide detail about the individual activist’s identity. The pre-created signs making the transformation into an activist a simpler process, as it saves many busy individuals the time that it would have taken to create the signs, and allows more of the individuals to join the crowds of people waiving their protest signs. These signs are also taken by individuals if the particular person agrees with what they believe to be the message of the sign -- if the young protester above didn’t care about the women’s health situation. While there is an important ritualized aspect to the creation of the Moral Monday sign, authorship of the symbols isn’t necessary for an

individual to become an activist. The moment of holding that sign and projecting her/his identity outward to a larger crowd is sufficient.

Symbols of the Sign

Even though there is a prepared script created by the overarching Moral Monday

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then becomes the place where the tension between the individual and the collective is not only expressed, but is solved.

One common symbol that appeared on multiple signs was a cash symbol - $. In some cases, the symbol was used as a decoration around the sign. Other signs included a row of the cash symbols, interrupting the flow of the text. Other cases still replaced the letter ‘S’ in text with $. Not only has this symbol become the representation of money and cash, but it indicates the larger socio-economic inequities that many of the protesters identified with. One major theme of the Moral Monday movement is the emphasis on access to resources for all of those involved. Many individuals interpreted this as a calling for them to fight for social-economic equality, and the individual economics of each protester was translated into the poster signs.

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in the protest signs indicate that this presented element of identity is internalized, and crucial to the Moral Monday activist identity.

Figure Three: A male Moral Monday protester holds up a sign he made about NC leadership for a Moral Monday March.

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Moral Mondays often are noted for a distinctive activist rhetoric, and it is likely that this rhetoric has influenced the choices of poster signs. The repetition of certain words and phrases also presents itself in a symbolic manner as well. In fact, many individuals chose to comprise their signs either predominately or entirely of text, likely because language serves a critical aspect of individual autonomy over their expression of beliefs. Certain words are used to evoke specific emotions or reference particular causes that the activist feels particularly connected to; others are repeated for a more symbolic effect.

Some individuals chose not to limit themselves to merely one poster sign. In these cases, separate identities were represented on each of the individuals poster signs. For example, one female activist held up two separate poster signs: the first read “NC WOMEN VOTE” in multicolored lettering on blue cardboard, the second featured an image of NC mayor Pat

McCrory stylized after an Obama campaign ad with “Liar” written below the image. Both signs represented different elements of the woman’s identity, which she wanted to express through her activism. In the first poster, the activist is representing her agency as an individual, as well as her identities as both a voter and a woman. In the second image, she’s creating a comparison of the two leader individuals, showing the political nature of her activist identity, as well as creating a sense of betrayal. Both of these are elements of this woman’s activist identity, and both of them were clearly important enough to her for her to create two separate images to hold

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Figure Four: A female Moral Monday activist displays two signs that she had made for herself at a Moral Monday rally at Halifax Mall.

Extending the Self Further

The poster sign often serves as the extension of the individual identity and feelings, therefore the ritual of holding the poster sign is important to understanding the process of how individuals feel about the values they’re expressing. The protest sign becomes a part of the extension of the process of transformation for the individuals who are undergoing the process of becoming a Moral Monday activist. With this transformation, there are likely expectations of symbolic and emotional proportions to becoming a Moral Monday activist. Joining the Moral Monday movement allowed these individuals to tap into their existing identities while

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The other popular position of the sign is holding it with outstretched arms above the head. In this position, many protesters were holding signs from the bottom up, many times appearing to struggle a bit more to elevate the signs higher up. This position allows for the sign to be displayed above the crowds of individuals. This level of elevation takes the sign from being a more personal sentiment, that would be able to be read by the individuals close to the activist in the crowd, to one that was meant to be read and consumed by a much larger audience. There is a sense in that this action indicates a desire to share with a larger public audience.

Even the grip that the protester holds on the signs is telling. Whether holding it on the sides of the sign to prominently feature the sign in front of the chest, or at the bottom of the sign to better hold the sign above the protesters head, a lot can be speculated about the way an individual grips the poster sign. The majority of the images of protesters with their signs held onto their signs with a firm grip. This firm grip on the sign serves the practical purpose of

making sure that the sign remains in the desired position. More than that, a firm grip is indicative of the personal investment in the statement the sign portrays. Unconsciously, the individuals holding the protest signs are indicating through the way that they hold them how they are relating with the way in that they are portraying themselves in the sign. This is not indicative that the few individuals who were casually holding their poster signs were less invested in the movement; there are a multitude of reasons for this behavior, including the tiring nature of Moral Monday protests that last for several hours in the hot North Carolina sun.

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without touching it. On one hand, this serves the purpose of increases the visibility of the sign to the other activists around, so that their identity and reasons for their presence gain a wider knowledge. The yardstick allows for the messages to be held higher above the crowd, increasing the likelihood that they will be able to be seen in the sea of thousands of protesters. It also, however, serves a practical purpose -- the yardstick makes it more comfortable for the protester to hold the protest sign. Not only does this allow increased accessibility to those who wish to use signs for a form of protest, as individuals who aren’t as strong are able to hold the poster signs for extended periods of time, but it also reduces the strain on the protesters. It also reflects the common trope of the picket sign, and as a result a common understanding of what the poster sign should appear.

Another interesting phenomenon of interaction with the poster sign is the circling of the direction of the poster sign. Sometimes there will be messages on both sides of the sign; other times the individuals will turn the sign, or themselves, to face a different section of the crowd. This ensures that their message and their sign increase in visibility to other sections of the crowd, increasingly the likelihood that their identity can be accepted by more of the crowd. As

individuals interact with one another’s poster signs, commenting on and commending one another, they accept individuals into the greater Moral Monday activist community. This

acceptance is part of the necessary steps in the creation of the activist identity: It isn’t enough for these individuals adopt and adapt the Moral Monday identity markers into their own identity; they also must gain recognition from the individuals around them of their status.

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some individuals around the state of North Carolina felt as a result of the new legislation which was passed, translated into the thoughts and behaviors of these individuals. Many of the signs included in this collection use very strong language, condemning leaders with words like

“shame,” or conveying aggression through the words in their signs, such as the “raging grannies” or “Frustrated Teacher Angry Parent.” They make a farce of the leadership of the state, using satire to compare politicians to stooges, and transposing pictures of the political leaders into cartoons or controversial placements, like the image of Pat McCrory’s head inside a uterus. As well, many protest signs use images of blood, coat hangers, scissors, or other instruments which are meant to harken to similar images. For example, one image which uses four pictures of North Carolina politicians has blood on their likeness, and has a harrowing message “... you’ll have women’s blood on your hands.” The poster sign provides an outlet for individuals to present the aggression which they feel, and is potentially another motivator for individuals to use poster signs. Since these spaces of activism allow for individuals who feel disenfranchised to find their voice again, many approach the rallies and the marches bearing the weight of their discontent. This aggression presents itself as one of the most common and uniting factors of all of the poster signs, and potentially even of the protesters.

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Monday organizers understand the tension which occurs between the anger necessary to mobilize and keep North Carolinians “Fired up and ready to go,” while balancing the messages of love which are necessary to create a united community of activists, as well as to continue to maintain the moral ground which they stand on. To avoid the anger overwhelming the movement, as happened in past movements like Occupy, the organizers are forced to ensure that the Moral Monday space responds to the claims of the protest signs and can ease some of the distress of the individuals who attend. These structural elements, provided by the Moral Monday organizers will likely never fully permeate into the individual protest signs, which will continue to be an outlet for the intense emotional expression. Through other group elements, like the group physically embracing one another, not only is the activist identity recognized, but some of the individual anger dissipates, bringing some sense of satisfaction to the activist and continuing to encourage more upset individuals to seek answers at moral Mondays.

While poster signs aid in an individual transition into the position of becoming an activist, poster signs do not operate in isolation. The act of holding the poster sign, however, arguably changes the way that an individual is involved in the Moral Monday movement because it provides the space for the individual to place their personal influence on the movement. The ritual of becoming an activist does not end with the holding of the poster sign however; it serves as another tool to aid in the process of adopting the activist identity. Still, the protest sign

continues on as one of the most important aids for allowing individuals to realize their own personal connections to the Moral Monday movement and how they choose to become an individual activist.

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CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Through the seven Moral Monday waves that I attended over the summer, I gained a greater insight into the role of the individual activist experience. As a result of this experience, I focused my research on the way that the individuals who surrounded me at each wave were interacting with one another, with the original intent of ascertaining why they attended the Moral Monday movements. What I came away with, through a pile of field notes and collection of protest signs, was a more nuanced perspective on the process of becoming a Moral Monday activist.

Through the process of attending a Moral Monday, an individual North Carolinian is able to connect to a specific, localized activist identity, that is provided by the movement. This

identity is not static, however, and is shaped in response to the individual background experiences. The location and structuring of the Moral Monday context have all primed the context in preparation to turn individuals into activists. As substantiated by the field notes

included, the ritual elements of the Moral Monday movement create a space for the development of a ritual of inclusion, as well as a malleable activist identity, that has allowed the movement to reach a wider audience and gain greater traction than other protests in recent years.

One major way that individual activists are able to transform themselves, as well the movement, is through the use of poster signs. These signs aid in their ability to express

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among their peers. The signs become talking points for the community to be able to able to start interacting with one another, making it much easier to form the bonds necessary between the activists to create a cohesive movement. As well, the stylistic choices and symbols present in signs convey distinctive choices by each individual activist about ways that they have chosen to fit elements of their identity into the Moral Monday movement. These choices help substantiate the idea that individual actors within the movement recognize that there is merit and power within their presence attending the Moral Monday protests.

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This is merely a starting point for research on Moral Mondays. As the movement is still ongoing and growing, it is continuing to adapt to the changing climate, not only of North Carolina politics, but also of the individuals who are joining the movement. Other individual experiences should be recorded as well, to create a more holistic representation of personal relationships between activists and the Moral Monday movement. It’s important to gain

documentation of these experiences while the movement is ongoing because, while it might be currently considered impressionistic and anecdotal, it will provide an invaluable record that will be necessary for those looking back at the movement in decades to come. The movement is full of vibrancy and life, something which can be captured through studies like this, but will

otherwise be hard to narrate during much later analysis. As well, as the Moral Monday

movement becomes less central to North Carolina, and the style of protest is adopted by other states like Georgia and Colorado, there will need to be further studies done on how individuals in those states have shaped the protest to better fit their interests and their local contexts.

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APPENDIX A:

Image one: Group of Moral Monday activists conduct a sitting protest on the side of Moral Monday.

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Image Seven: A female Moral Monday protester proudly holds on a sign that she constructed, featuring legislators and coat hangers, at one of the Moral Monday waves.

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Image Nine: A young female Moral Monday protester dressed as “Miss Pro-Choice” holds a poster sign she made at a Moral Monday protest.

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Image Nineteen: A female Moral Monday protester holds her sign above her head at the 11th wave of Moral Monday.

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Image Twenty-One: A young female Moral Monday protester holds her sign above her head leaving a Moral Monday protest.

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Image Twenty Five: Female Moral Monday protesters talk while holding protest signs above their head.

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Image Twenty Nine: A woman poses with two signs that she made at a Moral Monday protest focused on women’s rights.

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Image Thirty One: A female Moral Monday protester poses with her sign that reads “Saying ‘I’m from North Carolina’ shouldn’t be a bad thing!”

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Image Thirty Five: A Moral Monday protester holds up her sign as the crowd turns on to Salisbury street in downtown Raleigh.

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Image Thirty Eight: A Moral Monday protester holds his sign above the crowd at a later wave of the Moral Monday protests.

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Image Forty: A female Moral Monday protester holds up a sign she created, referencing the NC budget advisor Art Pope.

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Image Forty Two:A group of young Moral Monday protesters pose with a banner that they had created for a Moral Monday wave.

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Thesis

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Bibliography