Earlier this week, it was announced that former Vicksburg mayor Robert M. Walker passed away on Tuesday, July 29, 2025. I had the honor and pleasure to interview him for my book, in which he told me more about the impetuous for the Mississippi African American Monument at Vicksburg National Park.

A descendant of men who fought at Milliken’s Bend, Walker told a reporter from 16-WAPT News in 2024 that “the truth has to be told. Because for so long, folk have been forced to believe a lie.”

Growing up near the Vicksburg battlefield, Walker “used to observe that there were no monuments or anything that paid tribute, or honored, those Black troops who had played such a significant role in the Union defeat of Confederates at Vicksburg.” Of Milliken’s Bend he said, “Their victory at that battle had refuted the theory at the time that Black folk would not fight. That they could not be good soldiers…Even though some of them had guns that were old, hardly useful guns, that they had not been trained on, they were so hyped up to be free, that they used what they had – the butts of guns and the knifes attached to those guns in their fight for freedom…They were fighting for themselves. And they were fighting for their wives, their children. And for the ancestors. It was significant.”

Walker led the effort to erect a permanent monument within the national park for these soldiers, and other Mississippians of African descent who aided the Union cause. It was important that such a monument was not simply a small marker, but one that was substantial – one that could not be ignored. By having it located in the national park, it would be ensured of its place in perpetuity. No longer would Milliken’s Bend and the African American troops that fought there be able to be ignored.

It was not until 2002 that Walker’s proposal at last received approval to be erected within the park. Dr. Kim Sessums was the sculptor. In the same interview mentioned above, Sessums tells how dirt and clay from the site of Milliken’s Bend literally became part of the monument. Walker, too, is part of the monument. The middle soldier was sculpted to look like him.

While my contact with Mayor Walker focused on his role in creating the first monument to African American Union soldiers to be erected anywhere in a national park, his influence in Vicksburg and the state of Mississippi is even more important.

Walker was elected three times as Vicksburg’s mayor – once in a special election in 1988, making him the city’s first Black mayor since Reconstruction; and again in 1989 and 1997. Prior to his mayoral service, he was the first Black student to obtain a Master’s degree from Ole Miss; he began Head Start in Vicksburg; and served as field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi. After leaving the mayor’s office, Walker was a professor at Jackson State University and Tougaloo College. In 2019, the City of Vicksburg named a building in his honor.

Mayor Walker, thank you for your leadership, vision, and integrity. Thank you for securing a permanent place to memorialize and commemorate those Black men who served, fighting for freedom. Thank you for all the good you have brought to your state and community.

Other news coverage and tributes:

Mississippi Today

Vicksburg News

16-WAPT News