Recently Google honored the “Silent Protest Parade” of 1917. It was not a protest against a government or policy, but against the hatred and racism that led to white rioting and the murder of nearly 200 innocent black people in East Saint Lewis. I was impressed by the parade’s dignity and how effectively it challenged the attitudes that were behind the St. Louis riots.

The Silent Protest Parade was part of a tradition of nonviolent protest that has roots in ancient times but has become a major tool for social change in many places during the last century. Such protests haven’t always been effective—but neither have violent protests or revolutions. A number of websites have lists of famous or powerful nonviolent protests. Here are three of the best:

The Daily Good organization lists 30 effective nonviolent actions from ancient Rome to 19th century Hungary to the 20th and 21st century Americas, Europe, the Philippines, South Africa, and elsewhere.

The second list briefly discusses five 20th century protests. Gandhi’s 1930 salt march protested the British monopoly that led to high prices on the salt people needed to live. It helped open the way for Indian independence. In the 1913 suffrage parade, women in the U.S. pushed for the right to vote. (‘Suffrage’ means voting rights.)

The Delano grape boycott and Montgomery bus boycott were two more American protests to win more right for farm workers and black people. (See the vocabulary section for an explanation of boycotts.) The 1988 Singing Revolution was a mass movement of Estonians singing their forbidden national songs and helped lead to Estonian independence. There’s more here.

If you would like a third perspective, Time magazine ranks “the top 10 most influential protests” here. (Most, but not all, are also on the lists above.)