How Fort Worth’s faith community has powered 40 years of MLK Day celebrations 

How Fort Worth’s faith community has powered 40 years of MLK Day celebrations 

Donavan Wheatfall memorized 26 of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches by the age of 13. The American Baptist minister and civil rights leader has been a role model to Wheatfall, who grew up in southeast Fort Worth’s historically Black Stop Six neighborhood. As a kid, Wheatfall participated in the “King Kids of America,” a youth group dedicated to teaching young people about King’s impact in the Civil Rights Movement. Eventually, Wheatfall himself became an ordained minister and Fort Worth City Council member for District 5 between 2004 and 2007. Each year, Wheatfall sees how MLK’s legacy brings together thousands of churchgoers, students, residents and city leaders through the annual Fort Worth MLK Day Parade. “It just basically tied all of our neighborhoods together in one single moment of celebrating such a powerful and impactful man as Dr. King,” Wheatfall said. A young spectator holds a sign quoting Martin Luther King Jr. during the downtown Fort Worth Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade on Feb. 19, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)For the 40th year, the Greater Fort Worth MLK Holiday Committee is hosting its annual parade. Cold weather delayed the parade from Jan. 20 to Feb. 17, as it did last year, but Fort Worth community leaders shared their memories of the celebration and its impact.Although it’s common now for various floats, school bands and car clubs to rumble through the streets of downtown Fort Worth in celebration of King’s legacy, it wasn’t always that way, said committee chair Krista Boyce Daniels. The early days honoring King’s life in Fort Worth involved a silent march, Daniels said. King visited Fort Worth in the midst of segregation in October 1959. During King’s visit, he was greeted by various African American community leaders and discussed what could be done about the civil unrest that resided in the city, Daniels added. “When Martin Luther King Jr. was alive and he marched, they would march and then they would start singing hymns. But they would remain quiet,” Daniels said. “You would have people that would stop them, turn water hoses on them and then they would sing, ‘Ain’t gonna let nobody. Turn me around. Turn me around. I keep on walking, walking up the King’s Highway.’” King faced anger, hate and a bomb threat in Fort Worth. But his stop, part of a nationwide tour promoting equality, attracted 400 people at the historic Majestic Theater to hear his speech. On that occasion, Black people were allowed to enter the front door and sit in the lower seats for the first time, according to a historical marker installed in Sundance Square near the theater’s original location. Nine years after his visit, in 1968, King was assassinated by a gunman in Memphis, Tennessee. “It really hurt the city of Fort Worth, because he had just left us, giving us direction,” Daniels said. “So the ministers got together, the churches got together and they came aboard.” A car has a Martin Luther King Jr. poster on its windshield on Jan. 15, 2022. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)Daniels’ late husband, Weldon G. Daniels, a former pastor emeritus at Pilgrim Valley Missionary Baptist Church, formed the Greater Fort Worth Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Committee in 1985 with several other community members to honor King’s legacy. “It did begin as a silent march, but then in the midst of it, you did have some of your band instruments,” Daniels said. “It was a combination of it all.”While King was a Baptist pastor, the board continues to be made up by a variety of Tarrant County congregants and religious leaders.Throughout the years, the Fort Worth observance has changed as a way to keep the youth engaged, Daniels said, but she still makes an effort to remind younger audiences of the parade’s origins. “They come with new ideas, and we have to change according to them, to keep them interested, to keep them a part of what we’re trying to do,” Daniels said. “I still keep them informed that, yes, you can dance, yes, you can have your vehicles, yes, you can have your floats. … But in the back of your mind, always remember why he stood (and) what he stood for.” Tyshawn Wright leads the Dunbar High School Marching P.R.I.D.E. Band at the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade on Jan. 15, 2022. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)As a child, Wheatfall remembers different school bands, politicians and radio personalities coming out from various neighborhoods in Fort Worth to honor King. Now, 40 years later, Wheatfall continues to remember his legacy — and encourages others to do the same. “The parade represents a time in which that was not possible,” Wheatfall said. “That legacy can never be forgotten.” Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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