Susan Miller

USA TODAY

They come in all ages and walks of life, unflinching and determined to be heard.

Mothers with young children, hoping to impart an up-close lesson in history. Animated college students stretching their political vocal cords for the first time. Aging Baby Boomers who haven't toted a protest sign since their anti-war days in the 1970s.

Street demonstrations that started as a release of anger, frustration and disbelief after Democrat Hillary Clinton conceded to Republican Donald Trump have mushroomed into a rolling movement that has engulfed the country for four days and counting.

From New York to Miami to Olympia, Wash., to Iowa City, the election results have touched a nerve. Shouts of "Dump Trump" and "Not My President" are the battle cry punctuating gatherings along Fifth Avenue, outside the White House and in front of small-town city halls.

Most have been peaceful; a few have teetered toward violence; many have been emotional.

While most protesters acknowledge they can't change Tuesday's vote, they want to stand in deafening opposition to a candidate who disparaged women, gays, immigrants and other segments of society.

Political action group MoveOn.org was one of the first to issue a call to action early Wednesday.

"We were sort of reeling" Tuesday night in the raw hours as Trump's victory became evident, Ben Wikler, Washington director for MoveOn, told USA TODAY on Saturday. "Our idea was for people in common to show each other they weren't alone. There were people out there who would fight with them."

Thousands march in 4th day of anti-Trump protests

MoveOn urged Americans to gather peacefully to "take a continued stand against misogyny, racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia." Within hours, about 275 protests and vigils had been organized nationwide Wednesday, Wikler said. "There was an enormous outpouring of spontaneous energy and concern."

Wikler said one of MoveOn's biggest goals with protests is to "show there is not a national mandate" of support for the policies of Trump. "Members of Congress should have no illusions."

He said he was not surprised by the rush to the streets in the first 24 hours. "People feel abandoned now," he said.

Yong Jung Cho, 26, who organized a candlelight vigil in front of the White House on Wednesday night, said about 2,000 people showed up. "Together, we sang, we cried and we marched" to Trump's hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. "In this moment, the protests are showing the people, the country and the world that we are here for each other."

Other protests have sprouted up through social media. More than a dozen Facebook protest groups organized in the past few days, one even soliciting members worldwide.

The demonstrations have not been "premeditated," said Kari Winter, a University at Buffalo professor of American studies who has researched protest movements.

"The election results took almost everyone by surprise," Winter said. "The protests have erupted out of the shock and rage of people who suddenly feel disinherited and homeless."

The right to protest, the core of the First Amendment, is a basic American value. Throughout history, protest movements have led to shifts in the U.S. landscape. Strikes at small factories in the 1930s blossomed into labor protests nationwide that resulted in workplace practices and protections still in place today.

Even though the Supreme Court ruled segregation unconstitutional in 1954, it took sit-ins and demonstrations to finally enact real change, most notably the 1963 March on Washington.

The anti-war movement of the late 1960s and '70s raged through campus sit-ins, strikes and protests, raising social awareness and influencing the course of the Vietnam conflict.

In recent times, there have been mixed reviews on whether protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter have been a success. Winter said social media platforms play such a significant role in protests today that the dynamic has changed from years past. But there are similarities.

"The centuries-long process toward democratic justice depends upon collective movements against sexism, racism, bigotry, xenophobia and greed, " she said. "The American Revolution, abolition, feminism, civil rights, Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street are interwoven threads in one long movement."

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MoveOn has not organized any protests since Wednesday, but the group is sponsoring an online petition to abolish the Electoral College and hold presidential elections based on popular vote. As of Saturday, the petition had more than 300,000 signatures. And Clinton was still winning the popular vote Saturday 48% to Trump's 47%.

One of the most remarkable sights in the past 72 hours has been the number of high school students, many too young to vote, who have been swept up in a backlash against a president-elect they see as a danger to their future.

"After the election, a lot of people at City High were down, crying, very sad. A lot of teachers were crying," said Armani Smith, 17, a senior at Iowa's City High who helped lead a walkout of about 200 students in protest Friday. "Basically, who I'm looking to is Martin Luther King. He taught me a lot of things when I was young — that peaceful protest can accomplish some change in society."

The high schools in which hundreds of teens have been galvanized to action have high minority enrollments, and Trump's fiery comments on everything from Muslims to Mexicans have stoked anxieties, school officials say.

"The majority of students at Des Moines Public Schools are students of color," Phil Roeder, the district's director of communications and public affairs, said in a statement earlier this week. "The rhetoric of this past election has caused many concerns and divisions among them, their friends and their families. The school district will not stand in the way of our students peacefully expressing their concerns."

Wikler recognizes the battle ahead. "This is going to be a long fight," he said. "We are deeply involved in helping channel energy to those who don't want to see Trump's apocalyptic vision of America."

Cho said she is inspired by the people flocking to the streets, particularly high school students. "We're going to fight for the soul of America and our future as a people."

Contributing: Zack Berg and Holly Hines, Iowa City Press Citizen; Mackenzie Ryan, Linh Ta and Charly Haley, The Des Moines Register

Follow Miller on Twitter: @susmiller