Jan. 15, 1986: Opal Lee, right, and Brenda Polk carry a painted banner of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. during a memorial march along East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth
Paul Moseley
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection/UT Arlington Libraries Special Collections
On a Wednesday morning in January 1986, a crowd of 150 people marched along East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth, led by none other than Opal Lee.
That was the first year that Martin Luther King Jr. Day was a federal holiday, which President Ronald Reagan had signed into law three years earlier. Lee coordinated this Fort Worth march, and she smiled and cheered as she helped carry a large banner of King. (Fort Worth’s 40th annual parade is this Monday, Jan. 20.)
Jan. 15, 1986: Opal Lee, right, and Brenda Polk carry a painted banner of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. during a memorial march along East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth Paul Moseley Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection/UT Arlington Libraries Special Collections
The Star-Telegram reported: While waving American flags and carrying posters of King, the marchers walked four abreast down East Rosedale Street, just as the civil rights leader marched for non-violent racial equality until his assassination in 1968.
Jan. 15, 1986: A crowd of 150 marches along East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. At front, Opal Lee, left, and Brenda Polk carry a painted banner depicting the likeness Dr. King. Paul Moseley Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection/UT Arlington Libraries Special Collections
“This depicts the way Dr. King did it himself,” Lee told our reporter. “If Dr. King walked for racial equality, we can too.”
The 1986 march — 27 blocks from Texas Wesleyan College to Community Christian Church on East Vickery Boulevard — was led by a Mercedes-Benz decorated with streamers and a truck full of children. Bystanders lined the streets and shouted words of support.
Jan. 15, 1986: During the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial march along East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth, Quadir Bilal, left, and Chris Kamel of the Hassan Center carry a banner to lead a portion of the parade. The truck’s banner reads “Sister Clara Muhammad School Supports M.L.K.” Two reporters are seated on the back tailgate of the truck. Paul Moseley Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection/UT Arlington Libraries Special Collections
Jan. 15, 1986: Spectators look out through a window at the memorial march along East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Paul Moseley Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection/UT Arlington Libraries Special Collections
Marion Brooks, a longtime Fort Worth civil rights activist and medical doctor whose Evans Avenue clinic was once the first and only option for the Black community, spoke about King’s legacy.
Jan. 15, 1986: Dr. Marion Brooks speaks after a march honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Paul Moseley Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection/UT Arlington Libraries Special Collections
“He has left us a legacy that will go on and on and on. So let’s with our hearts march with Martin Luther King into the future,” said Brooks, whose son Roy C. Brooks would later become a Tarrant County commissioner.
Jan. 15, 1986: Latoya Jones, 4, rides atop the shoulders of her mother, Mary Jones, during a memorial march along East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth for civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. Paul Moseley Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection/UT Arlington Libraries Special Collections
Bert C. Williams, Fort Worth mayor pro tem, told the crowd that the road to equality was still far away. “The fight is not over by a long shot. We’ve got to make the world a better place to live not just for one race but for all races.”
Jan. 15, 1986: Opal Lee, right, and Brenda Polk carry a painted banner of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. during a memorial march along East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth Paul Moseley Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection/UT Arlington Libraries Special Collections
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Matt Leclercq is senior managing editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He previously was an editor at USA Today in Washington, national news editor at Gatehouse Media in Austin, and executive editor of The Fayetteville (NC) Observer. He’s a New Orleans native.
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