Event to feature civil rights activists of the Parchman Ordeal
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NATCHEZ, Miss. --- The 2025 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Day Parade will be held at 3 p.m. Monday, January 20, with the line-up
beginning at 2 p.m. on Broadway Street on the Bluff.
The theme is “Natchez All In.” The event will include
civil rights activists from the 1960s.
“In the January 20th MLK parade, the remaining living
members that went to Parchman will be honored,” wrote Parade Chairperson
Jacqueline Marsaw in a Facebook post. “I feel so good in honoring them as they
should be every year.”
Marsaw described the activists as “Parchman Living
Legends” because of the suffering they endured in the struggle for civil
rights. On October 2 and 3, 1965, hundreds of protestors marched in solidarity
through the city’s streets in defiance of a September 30 court ban against
marching. They were all arrested, and
when the local jails became full, the authorities bused 150 of them to
the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
The protesters were subjected to harsh treatment at the
prison. Their experience became known as “The Parchman Ordeal.”
The parade will also honor such leaders as Medgar Evers,
slain civil rights leader and NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi; Wharlest
Jackson Sr., civil rights leader who died when his truck was bombed by members
of the Ku Klux Klan in Natchez, on Feb. 27, 1967; and Ida B. Wells-Barnett, journalist
and activist who led anti-lynching crusades in the 1890s and fought for woman
suffrage.
Others who will be honored include Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-C.
M. Boxley, former civil rights worker and coordinator of Friends of the
Forks of the Roads Society; and Nick Bezzel, founder of the Elmer Geronimo
Pratt Pistol & Rifle Gun Club.
The grand marshals will include Derrick Johnson, national
president and CEO of the NAACP; Natchez Alderman
Billie Joe Frazier, Ward 2; and Adams County Supervisor Ricky Gray, District 4.
Entry fees for the parade are: $50 donations for any
amount of vehicles; $50 for floats and 2 vehicles; and $10 per car.
Marsaw said bands, dance groups, horses, motorcycles and
all organizations are welcome to participate in the parade.
The parade route will start at North Broadway and
Franklin streets. From there, it will travel along Franklin to N. Dr. M.L. King
St., where it will turn left and proceed up to Minor Street, where it will end.
The parade will be followed by trophy presentations at
the corner of Dr. M.L. King and High streets for the best float.
The parade is sponsored by The Natchez Branch of the
NAACP.
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