In what has become a New Haven tradition, Rev. Kennedy Hampton chants to his fellow marchers Wednesday afternoon, taking a circuitous route to and from the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church.
“Made up my mind and I won’t turn around,” Hampton said.
Now in its 55th year, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Love March, starting with humble beginnings, is now well attended by local and state leaders.
Hampton and other clergy held services soon after the event, telling a story of perseverance and inner strength from King, defying the systemic racism that continues to drive civil rights activists towards meaningful change.
The march also reflected the personal stories of attendees, such as Mary Ransome, who also refused to accept her station in life, and is now a well respected pastor in Hamden.
Ransome said her parents were sharecroppers in the south. She moved to Connecticut in 1968 in search of better opportunities.
“I couldn’t wait to leave, got tired of picking cotton with my hands, shaking peanuts with my hands it was just a blessing to come up north.”
Ransome would later become the pastor at the Greater Mt. Carmel Pentecostal Church.
Democratic State Rep. Gary Winfield joined the march and chanted alongside Hampton. Winfield has attended the march since 2006.
He said the march, which started in 1971, reflects how the civil rights icon had such a meaningful impact on people from different walks of life.
The federal government would take until 1983 to make King’s birthday a national holiday.
But in New Haven, which has a considerable civil rights history, the march proved to have enduring appeal. George W. Hampton, Kennedy Hampton’s father, started the march after hearing God command him to hold one, announcing that having one would reflect King’s universal appeal with all humankind, according to the church’s website.
While many people consider King a hero, his legacy has also been co-opted and sanitized, according to Winfield.
King didn’t just promote equality; he also promoted action, which Winfield said reflects what he means to residents.
“You get this mild version of Martin Luther King, but that's not the complete picture,” Winfield said. “And I think when you come to an event like the Love March, where people recognize and continue to talk about his history, you get a more fulsome version of who Martin Luther King was.”
