The annual celebration for Martin Luther King Jr. Day is slated to be rescheduled after it was canceled this week due to the weather.
The event is coordinated by Oak Grove A.M.E. Church of Benton, and coordinators said the annual march from Benton to the church is slated to be rescheduled around the date of King’s historic visit, which was in June of 1966.
Organizers anticipate to coordinate the event this summer around that June timeline.
The church holds a special place in the Civil Rights Movement history. In June 1966, a march for voting rights, en route from Yazoo City to Jackson, camped there while passing through Benton. The marchers, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were provided food and water by members of the Oak Grove A.M.E. Church and by members of the Woods family, who owned property next to the church.
