On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man then suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, died in Minneapolis after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee to Mr. Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes. Recorded via cellphone camera by a young onlooker, the footage of Mr. Floyd’s death sparked a widespread movement pushing for racial justice and demanding changes in policing. We look back on the historic year since his death.
Protestors demonstrate outside of a burning Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct, Thursday, May 28, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody the previous Monday, broke out in Minneapolis for a third straight night. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)A woman with ‘BLM’ written on her cheek poses for a picture during a demonstration on May 31, 2020 in Atlanta. Across the country, protests erupted following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)In this April 19, 2021 file image from police body camera video, George Floyd responds to police after they approached his car outside Cup Foods on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis. The image was shown as prosecutor Steve Schleicher gave closing arguments at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was charged in the May 25 death of Floyd. (Court TV via AP, Pool, File)A protester carries a U.S. flag upside down, a sign of distress, next to a burning building, Thursday, May 28, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody Monday, broke out in Minneapolis for a third straight night. (Julio Cortez/Associated Press)Police officers confront protesters during a protest demanding justice for the death of George Floyd, Saturday, May 30, 2020, on Sixth Street in Downtown. (Michael M. Santiago/Post-Gazette)In this May 25, 2020 file image from surveillance video, Minneapolis police Officers from left, Tou Thao, Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane are seen attempting to take George Floyd into custody in Minneapolis, Minn. (Court TV via AP, Pool, File)Rep. John Thompson, right, hugs The Rev. Jerry McAfee, pastor of New Salem Baptist Church, during a prayer service for George Floyd’s family, Sunday March 28, 2021, in Minneapolis. (Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via AP)Local residents and alumni of Jack Yates High School take part in a candlelight vigil to honor George Floyd, Monday, June 8, 2020, in Houston. Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis Police officers on May 25. As the trial surrounding the death of Floyd begins in Minneapolis, a sweeping package of police reforms in his native Texas has scarce signs of early support within the state’s GOP majority. The “George Floyd Act” was scheduled to get its first hearing in the Texas Capitol on Thursday, March 25, 2021. (Eric Gay/Associated Press)Thousands of people demonstrate to protest against racism and the recent killing of George Floyd, June 6, 2020, in Cologne, Germany. The world braced for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer who is charged with murder and manslaughter in George Floyd’s death. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)Protesters lock arms during a demonstration on May 31, 2020 in Atlanta. Across the country, protests erupted following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)Two people run away after police used tear gas during a demonstration on May 31, 2020, in Atlanta. The brief period following the death of George Floyd saw the most widespread domestic use of tear gas against demonstrators since the unrest in the late 1960s and early ’70s, according to Stuart Schrader of Johns Hopkins University, who studies race and policing. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)Tim Stevens, chairman and CEO of The Black Political Empowerment Project, pauses during a press conference regarding the death of George Floyd and the communication sent by Chief Scott Schubert to officers of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police on Friday, May 29, 2020, at Freedom Unlimited Inc. in the Hill District. Chief Schubert issued a statement saying he asked the police academy to review the death and report the information for the department’s training and policies, writing “Excessive force is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at any level.” (Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette)A police vehicle burns outside of PPG Paints Arena during a protest against police brutality following the death of George Floyd, Saturday, May 30, 2020, in Downtown. The protest began with about 1,000 people marching to honor Mr. Floyd. (Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette)John Bedortha of Lawrenceville carries a flag as inmates pound the walls of their cells in response to the protest demanding justice for the death of George Floyd, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at the Allegheny County Jail, Downtown. (Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette)“If they won’t protect us, we will,” reads a sign beside an armed protestor during a Justice for George Floyd rally on Saturday, May 30, 2020, in Downtown. (Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette)“Black Lives Matter” New York protesters demonstrate in Times Square over the death of George Floyd, June 7, 2020, in New York. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images)People run from tear gas that was deployed along Centre Avenue during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd a week prior, on Monday, June 1, 2020. (Andrew Goldstein/Post-Gazette)President Donald Trump holds a Bible while visiting St. John’s Church across from the White House after the area was cleared of people protesting the death of George Floyd, June 1, 2020, in Washington, DC. President Trump was due to make a televised address to the nation on Monday after days of anti-racism protests against police brutality erupted into violence, after he was criticized for not publicly addressing in the crisis in the days following Mr. Floyd’s death. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)Protesters demonstrate the death of George Floyd at the Lincoln Memorial on June 9, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)Democratic lawmakers take a knee to observe a moment of silence on Capitol Hill for George Floyd and other victims of police brutality June 8, 2020, in Washington, DC. The group kneeled in silence for eight minutes, 46 seconds in Congress’ Emancipation Hall — named in honor of the slaves who helped erect the US Capitol in the 18th century. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)A demonstrator punches a puppet depicting US President Donald Trump during a Black Lives Matter march in London, Saturday, June 6, 2020, as people protest against the killing of George Floyd. (Frank Augstein/Associated Press)Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto raises his hands during a prayer vigil to honor George Floyd, Sunday, May 31, 2020, in East Liberty. (Christian Snyder/Post-Gazette)Thousands gathered in East Liberty to protest the death of George Floyd, who was killed while in police custody, on Monday, June 1, 2020. Here, they sat on Penn Avenue. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)A large crowd of people came together Downtown and then marched to the South Side to protest the death of George Floyd, Thursday, June 4, 2020. Here the crowd marches down Fifth Avenue in a driving rain. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)
In Focus Video
As protests erupt across the US following the death of George Floyd, CNN's Miguel Marquez reports from the site where Floyd died. (Video from CNN)
City workers repaint Black Lives Matter Plaza on 16th Street following the removal of the lettering for a construction project on May 13, 2021 in Washington, DC. The words “Black Lives Matter” was painted on the two block section of 16th Street last year in the wake of the George Floyd protest. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)A man raises his fist as mourners watch the casket of George Floyd carried by a white horse-drawn carriage to his final resting place at the Houston Memorial Gardens cemetery in Pearland, Texas on June 9, 2020. George Floyd was laid to rest in his Houston hometown. Thousands of well-wishers filed past Floyd’s coffin in a public viewing a day earlier, as a court set bail at $1 million for the white officer charged with his murder the previous month in Minneapolis. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)The hands of funeral home staff move the casket of George Floyd into a hearse after the funeral service for Floyd at The Fountain of Praise Church Tuesday, June 9, 2020, in Floyd’s hometown of Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool)Nathan Rangel, 11, jumps in the water carrying a rose as surfers participate in a paddle out ceremony at “The Ink Well,” a beach historically known as a surfing refuge for African Americans, to honor the life of George Floyd on Friday, June 5, 2020, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)Protesters lie across Second Avenue towards the Allegheny County Jail in the wake of the death of George Floyd, Thursday, June 4, 2020, in Downtown. (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)David Ferrero brought a baseball bat and stood in front of boarded-up storefronts during a peaceful protest at Southland Shopping Center on Wednesday, June 3, 2020, in Pleasant Hills. A few hundred people gathered to protest the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Mr. Ferrero joined a small crowd of men who stood on the outskirts of the protest and watched. One man named John described the small group as “patriots here to ensure that Black Lives Matter and the crowd will be able to [protest] peacefully. We do recognize the murder of that man.” Mr. Ferrero added he was there to protect businesses. There was no property destruction at the protest. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)People gather around the Christopher Columbus statue in Schenley Park for the “So Long Columbus! Rally” hosted by Pittsburgh Against Monuments To Racism to demand the removal of the Columbus statue on Monday, October 12, 2020, in Oakland. Protests sweeping the world after George Floyd’s death added fuel to a movement to remove statues honoring historical figures with a role in the slave trade and colonization. (Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette)Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert and Officer Jon Bradford kneel and hold their fists with protesters during a peaceful protest demanding justice for the death of George Floyd, Friday, June 5, 2020, along West Liberty Avenue in Beechview. Chief Schubert said he was “deeply disturbed and saddened” by the footage of Mr. Floyd’s death, which shows Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck for several minutes while Mr. Floyd says, “I can’t breathe.” (Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette)Police use chemical irritants and crowd control munitions to disperse protesters during a demonstration in Portland, Ore., Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020. Hundreds of people gathered for rallies and marches against police violence and racial injustice Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, as often violent nightly demonstrations that have happened for 100 days since George Floyd was killed showed no signs of ceasing. (Noah Berger/Associated Press)Kyle Holbrook paints a mural from a 90-foot boom lift, as part of the mural project Pittsburgh Solidarity for Change, on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, at 7021 Kelly St. in Homewood. Pittsburgh Solidarity for Change is placing 10 murals by 30 selected artists throughout the city to provide visual examples of solutions to police brutality, systemic racism and gun violence. (Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette)Minnesota Freedom Fighters (MNFF) member Step Child, right, (who doesn’t want to have his real name published) 44, an IT operator, looks out of a window at his home, flanked by partner Erin Brennan, left, 49, and step-daughter Mila Duron, 13, on July 29, 2020, in Minneapolis. Armed with AR-15’s and sporting bulletproof vests, members of the MNFF, a Black self-defense group formed after the death of George Floyd, describe themselves as a “bridge” between the police and the African-American community. (Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images)Mayor Bill Peduto invites anyone who wants to talk up to the stairs outside his house on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, in Point Breeze. Protest leaders asked Mr. Peduto how he will hold law enforcement accountable as, they say, police have lied on press releases about their interactions and arrests of Black Lives Matter activists. (Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette)People place locks with the names of those killed by law enforcement in Minnesota on the fence outside the Hennepin County Government Center during the “Locks for Loved Ones Lost: Part II” event, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in Minneapolis. Attorneys at the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged in George Floyd’s death, have moved closer to seating a full jury. (Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via AP)From left, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), and caucus chair Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) react to the verdict in the Derick Chauvin murder trial in the Rayburn Room at the U.S. Capitol on April 20, 2021, in Washington, DC. Chauvin was found guilty on all three charges in the murder of George Floyd. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Derek Chauvin is convicted of all three charges in connection with the death of George Floyd. Darryl Forges reports. (Video from CNN)
In this file image from video, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, center, is taken into custody as his attorney, Eric Nelson, left, looks on, after the verdicts were read at Chauvin’s trial for the 2020 death of George Floyd, April 20, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. Nelson has requested a new trial, saying the court abused its discretion when it refused to change the venue in the original proceedings, according to a court document filed Tuesday, May 4, 2021. (Court TV via AP, Pool, File)People hug at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, after the jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd. Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd while in police custody last year. (Victor J. Blue/The New York Times)
In Focus Video
Pittsburghers gathered at Freedom Corner celebrate after guilty verdicts in the trial of the police officer charged in the killing George Floyd. (Post-Gazette video)
People gather at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue to celebrate the guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial on April 20, 2021 in Minneapolis. The former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty today on all three charges he faced in the death of George Floyd. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)Damarra Atkins paid her respects to George Floyd at a mural at George Floyd Square, Friday, April 23, 2021, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)George Floyd. (Courtesy Ben Crump Law)
By 
