Moral Mondays are protests that are familiar to the citizens of North Carolina. After a summer full of protests at the capitol in Raleigh, Alamance County saw its first Moral Monday protest Oct. 28.

The local Alamance County chapter of the NAACP sponsored Monday's rally, held before a packed crowd of hundreds at the Historic Depot Amphitheater in downtown Burlington. Ernestine Lewis, president of the local chapter of the NAACP said it was time for a change in Alamance County, and she wanted the NAACP to be a part of it.

A number of different political activists spoke at the rally, including Eric Henry, local business owner, Ellie Kinnair, the N.C. Voter ID Project founder and retired North Carolina senator and Alison Kaise, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood. Madison Kimrey, a 12-year-old political activist who became famous when North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory called her a “prop for the liberal media,” also spoke at the event. She encouraged youth leadership in politics in North Carolina, and her speech was well-received by the enthusiastic crowd.

The keynote speaker of the rally was Rev. Curtis Gatewood, who has spoken at Moral Monday protests in the past. Gatewood energized the crowd, imploring that this event is not a one-time event, but a part of a growing movement picking up across the state.

Read about Rev. Dr. William Barber, the man behind the Moral Mondays movement.

“This is a moral movement across North Carolina,” Gatewood said, asking the crowd to act and speak out against a legislature that is “allowing a new generation of immigrants to be treated like second-class citizens.”

There were tables present representing the NAACP, Move to Amend and Democracy Matters, all groups that have been protesting the North Carolina legislature all summer and aim to continue doing so until the 2014 election. Tom High, a protester from Carrboro who was working at a table for Move to Amend, said he was tired of the legislature “acting like a bully.”

"It’s all about maintaining the enthusiasm," said High, who was arrested for protesting in Raleigh in June. "People are awake now because they understand how some of these policies are going to affect them.”

The crowd gathered at the Moral Monday protest was older in age, but diverse. Michael Visconti, Meghan English and Paige Host, a group of Elon students, were present, and noticed the lack of other people their age.

“[These older people were] growing up in the Civil Rights movement," Host said. "It has been ingrained in them to protest from when they were little."

Barry Brown of the local chapter of the NAACP, who moderated the event, reminded the protesters time and again why they came to the event.

“We will remember in November,” he told the crowd, leading them in the chant that has taken over the Moral Monday movement: “Forward together, not one step back"