Top 10 non-violent protests, you can't ignore

Bed-In for Peace
Beatles legend John Lennon married his second wife Yoko Ono on March 20, 1969. Five days later, in lieu of a traditional honeymoon, the couple holed up in the bed of the Amsterdam Hilton's presidential suite, welcoming media for a week straight to display their deep opposition to the Vietnam War. They followed up a couple months later with another bed-in at a Montreal hotel, where Lennon and a group of supporters recorded the song "Give Peace a Chance."

Seminal Essay
  Henry David Thoreau, the Harvard-educated 19th-century philosopher and poet, remains a major symbol of peaceful resistance because of his 1849 work, "Civil Disobedience," in which he questions why people would obey a government whose laws they believe to be unjust. On account of his opposition to slavery, Thoreau refused to pay taxes, an act that briefly landed him in jail in 1846 (a relative bailed him out).

Lady in White
As one of the four mounted heralds of the Suffrage Parade on March 3, 1913, lawyer Inez Milholland Boissevain led a procession of more than 5,000 marchers down Washington D.C.'s Pennsylvania Avenue. The National American Woman Suffrage Association raised more than $14,000 to fund the event that became one of the most important moments in the struggle to grant women the right to vote — a right that was finally achieved seven years later. 

The Salt March
On March 12, 1930, at the age of 61, Mohandas Gandhi left his ashram with a band of 78 handpicked volunteers and headed for the sea. The Mahatma's destination was the village of Dandi, 241 miles to the south. Once he arrived at the beach, 24 days later, Gandhi proceeded to pick up salt, the production of which was controlled by the occupying British government. It was a simple gesture that served as the start to India's independence movement.

Flint Sit-In
As a nascent union, the United Auto Workers, formed in 1935, had a lot to fight for. During the Depression, General Motors executives started shifting work loads to plants with non-union members, crippling the UAW. So in December 1936, workers held a sit-in at the Fisher Body Plant in Flint, Michigan. Within two weeks, about 135,000 men were striking in 35 cities across the nation. Although the sit-ins were followed by riots, the images of bands playing on assembly lines and men sleeping near shuttered machines recall the serene strength behind the movement that solidified one of North America's largest unions.

Standing Up by Sitting Down
Even though African Americans constituted some 70% of total bus ridership in Montgomery, Ala., Rosa Parks still had trouble keeping her seat on Dec. 1, 1955. It was against the law for her to refuse to give up her seat to a white man, and her subsequent arrest incited the Montgomery Bus Boycott. One year later, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision that made segregated seating unconstitutional. Parks was known thereafter as the "mother of the civil-rights movement."

Fists in the Air
African-American track athletes Tommie Smith (first place) and John Carlos (third place) used their wins in Mexico City's 1968 Olympic Games to show their opposition to the continued oppression of blacks in the U.S. They stood in black socks to represent black poverty; Carlos wore beads to symbolize black lynchings; together they raised their black-gloved fists in a cry for black unity. The silver medalist on the podium, Australian Peter Norman, wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge on his tracksuit in solidarity. It cost him a hero's welcome upon his return home. Both Smith and Carlos were removed from the Games; none of the three men ever recanted their stances.

Flowers vs. Guns
From an anti-war demonstration in front of the Pentagon on October 21, 1967, organized by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, came images that encapsulate a decade of flower power. Not even the National Guard was a match for mellow hippies looking to push change with nothing more deadly than a few petals.

The Unknown Rebel
After the death of pro-democracy leader Hu Yaobang in mid-1989, students began gathering in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to mourn his passing. Over the course of seven weeks, people from all walks of life joined the group to protest for greater freedom. The Chinese government deployed military tanks on June 4 to squelch the growing demonstration and randomly shot into the crowds, killing more than 200 people. One lone, defiant man walked onto the road and stood directly in front of the line of tanks, weaving from side to side to block the tanks and even climbing on top of the first tank at one point in an attempt to get inside. The man's identity remains a mystery. Some say he was killed; others believe him to be in hiding in Taiwan.

March on Washington
 
More than 200,000 people gathered in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 to demand equal rights for African Americans. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech and roused a nation to action.