Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade will be January 20, 2025.

Event to feature civil rights activists of the Parchman Ordeal.

The 2025 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade will be held at 3 p.m. Monday, January 20, 2025 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.

Natchez Alderman Billie Joe Frazier, Ward 2, will serve as grand marshal.

Entry fees for the parade are: $50 donations for any number 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.