Ithaca’s 46th Annual Take Back the Night March and Rally will be held on April 25, 2025!
Historically, Take Back the Night has included a march, rally, speak-out, and vigil to unite the community to support survivors and envision an end to sexual assault, domestic violence, rape, and child sexual abuse.
This year, our agency’s Take Back the Night event will be an evening of reclamation, empowerment, and celebration; we seek to empower and uplift survivors and prioritize underrepresented and marginalized voices in their stories, their healing, and in our collective liberation.
We look forward to marching with you!
March and Rally Details
We are in the early stages of planning for TBTN 2025. Please come back to this page and follow us on @advocacyTC on Instagram/Facebook for updates!
About Ithaca’s Take Back the Night
Our local TBTN event fosters collaboration between the three college campuses, schools, and community members throughout Ithaca and Tompkins County. Participants gather together as survivors, supporters, and allies, bearing witness to harms that have been done and holding space for hope of a future without sexual and relationship violence.
For decades, our local event has included three marches: one from Cornell, one from Ithaca College, and one from downtown Ithaca (information coming soon!) with students, families, professionals – all community members wanting to support survivors are welcome!
Those who wish to march (walking on sidewalks) to the Ithaca Commons are encouraged to bring friends, family, teammates, coworkers and club members. We welcome signs, banners and/or clothes that highlight groups/organizations who choose to act in solidarity with survivors and speak against domestic and sexual violence. We will teach you some march chants and invite you to teach us your favorites.
You are also welcome to join us on the Commons between 6:30 and 7pm to welcome the marchers as they arrive.
Our Take Back the Night rally will start at 7pm with guest speakers and music. The event will end by 9pm with a short candlelight vigil.
History of Take Back the Night
The roots of Take Back the Night can be traced back to at least 1877 when women protested the fear and violence they experienced in the night-time streets of London, England.
Familiar phrases like “Reclaim the Night” and “Take Back the Night” are traced to several uprisings and protests in the 1970s. In 1976, women attending the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women lit candles and took to the moonlit streets of Belgium to denounce the continuation of violence against women. The first U.S. based Take Back the Night events were held in several cities including San Francisco and Philadelphia. Ithaca, New York’s first Take Back the Night was in 1979!
These initial Take Back the Night events called for an end to violence against women specifically. Through decades of continued activism, Take Back the Night events have expanded to embrace survivors of all gender identities and from all backgrounds and call for an end to all forms of sexual and domestic/relationship abuse.
While the origins of Take Back the Night may be varied across time and place, its impact is undeniable. Since its inception, thousands of marches and rallies bearing the name Take Back the Night have taken place worldwide. Thousands of survivors, supporters, and allies have gathered to grieve, protest, honor survivors, and call for us to do better as communities and globally.