MARKS -- Fifty years after his father walked the streets and met the people here, Martin Luther King III returned on Monday night to spread the word that his father’s work continues on.
Even though his father would be slain outside a Memphis, Tenn., hotel room a few short months after his visits to Marks in the spring of 1968, Martin Luther King Jr.’s efforts toward improving impoverished conditions in the South and the nation would inspire the Marks Mule Train.
On May 13, 1968, with just weeks of preparation, 115 Quitman County residents, ranging in age from eight months to 70 years old, left Marks traveling in more than a dozen wagons. They crept almost 500 miles over the next month before reaching Atlanta, where people, mules and wagons were loaded aboard a train for Alexandria, Va.
On June 19, 1968, Quitman County’s famous Mule Train rolled into the nation’s capital and joined a reported 50,000 citizens who were marching and calling for lawmakers to address poverty issues within the United States.
The mule train’s impact was important, Martin III said, as it “took a spotlight and focused on some of the most abject poverty in our nation.”
“Many people didn’t realize that existed in the United States,” he said.
Changes in education, nutrition, health care and housing programs took root as a result of the Marks Mule Train and the Poor People’s Campaign. And to mark the historic occasion, all this week Marks and Quitman County are hosting events related to the 50th anniversary of the Mule Train.
Martin III said Monday that while there have been some improvements since 1968, “there is still a sweltering amount of heat and oppression.”
“We have not achieved all that we could have, but we made progress,” King said, adding, “There is still a sweltering amount of heat and oppression.”
He challenged those sitting in the late afternoon sun on the lawn of the Quitman County Courthouse to take action.
“The time is now to change these conditions. It only takes a few good women and men to make a change,” he said. “We have got to be planning for the next generation and the generations to come.”
Martin III, who had visited Marks previously about 20 years ago, said Mississippi and the Delta are challenging, especially in regards to public education.
“When I think of Mississippi, I think of the sacrifices so many made to bring about change. I think about Aaron Henry in Clarksdale. I think about Medgar Evers,” he said.
“To me, the Delta is such a historic area as far as fertile land, yet its economically suppressing to a large amount of people. With all this incredible land, so much should have been done, could have been done,” he said.
“Still today, we’ve got to figure out how do we utilize this incredible gift of land. How do you create something where it’s not just beneficial to a few individuals?”
There is a 1968 Mule Train market, as well as a roadside park welcome sign and 11 Mule Train historical markers thoughout Marks. County and city officials hope to eventually establish a Mule Train Interpretative Center.
