Saturday’s eighth annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street march in Raleigh is expected to be one of the largest Southern civil rights demonstrations in decades — and businesses along the path are taking note.
Thousands of activists, students and N.C. citizens will gather for the march, which is called the Moral March in reference to the Moral Monday movement.
Moral Monday protests last summer were typically confined to Jones Street, the street in front of the State Legislative Building.
But the rally on Saturday will begin further south at Shaw University, and participants will march up toward the State Capitol, passing many more businesses than usual.
The protestors will assemble at 9:30 a.m. for speeches and will begin marching at 10:30 a.m. The march is expected to last until 12:30 p.m.
Busy Bee Cafe is located on South Wilmington Street, where protestors will start their march.
“When we had all the Moral Monday marches, it wasn’t really right on our street, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens,” said Busy Bee Cafe manager Rebecca Hoovler.
Historic Thousands on Jones Street is a coalition of 125 NAACP branches and more than 160 special interest groups, including immigrant rights, student, health care and LGBT groups.
They will protest conservative legislation passed by the N.C. General Assembly and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory.