Marks Mule Train & Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign (Marking the Mule Train Cultural Trail)
Why the Wagon Wheel Design?
By Velma Benson-Wilson and Cynthia Goodloe Palmer.
This article was originally featured in Tri-Lakes Delta Journal, 2021. Mrs. Velma Benson-Wilson also wrote The Dream Intensifies, an autobiographical essay in response to a 2013 visit back to her hometown of Marks, Mississippi. Author of What’s in the Water: Fannie, a Legacy of Love, Mrs. Benson-Wilson is currently the Director of Quitman County Tourism and Economic Development and was instrumental in the 50th Anniversary of Marks’ Mule Train and Poor People’s Campaign in 2018.
“Without the foundation of the wheel, it would be difficult to produce movement. It was the wheels of those wagons that propelled the Poor People’s Campaign forward, and those wagon wheels will now be parted permanently along the Mule Train Interpretative Trail”, Katrina Rankin, Emmy Nominee, “The Mule Train: Poor People’s Campaign Continued” Documentary.”
It was important to those working on this historic 1968 Civil Rights Mule Train Interpretive Trail project to ensure the intent of Dr. King’s goal of selecting Marks/Quitman County as the starting point for the Poor People’s Campaign was a portrayal of the actual history. This cultural trail is a tribute honoring his heroic efforts, the members of the SCLC (Student Christian Leadership Conference) and all those who participated in launching and the implementation in the Campaign. Thus, the 13 wagons, each pulled by two mules, kicked-off the Poor People’s Campaign. The wheel is a symbol of continuous motion that revolves on an axle, which is used to thrust a wagon, locomotive, vehicles, and other modes of transportation forward. Without the wheel, it’s difficult to produce movement. It is an essential object to the elevation which lifts modes of transportation to the desired surface allowance which enables ease of travel. It was the wheels that propelled the caravan of wagons movement; thus, the committee was fixated and agreed to make the wheel the symbolic image for the Mule Train Markers to mark the Interpretive Trail.
In 1968, little did Dr. King know that this would be his last campaign to bring attention to the War on Poverty. Little did historians and locals community realize that Dr. King’s visits would evolve over fifty years later with the potential to help shape this impoverished rural Delta county. Quitman County is now becoming a nascent civil rights destination, with the potential to bring economic stimulus in tourism growth and the capacity to attract private investors and businesses for downtown and regional development. This potential has blossomed with the addition of the 2018 opening of the Northwest Mississippi Regional Amtrak station in downtown Marks, Mississippi. The station within itself took a lot of wheels, which were put into motion to secure the necessary state and federal funds for its construction. As with the unveiling of the Quitman County rich civil rights history, stakeholders and grassroots efforts continue to seek state, federal and regional funding; as well as collaborative partnerships. Over the past five years, these efforts have produced sparks, which are now flickering signs of hope and opportunity. Maybe in retrospect, Dr. King was keenly aware that his presence in Marks and Quitman County would one day open a door to help not only this community, but other small rural towns in the Mississippi Delta see a pathway forward to greater economic prosperity.”
Learn more about Marks and Quitman County, and the Mississippi Delta here.
Want to visit Marks, Mississippi? Find a weekend itinerary here.