St. Marks and the Plight of a Supply Chain Community

Built in 1928, St. Mark’s Missionary Baptist Church is one of the last remaining visible vestiges of Valley Truck Farms, a once-thriving rural refuge for Black families who built homes, gardens, and community just south of San Bernardino. Percy Harper, who has served as pastor of St. Mark’s since 1988, has witnessed firsthand the evolution of Valley Truck Farms into a supply chain community or “asphalt jungle of warehouses” reshaped by the ever-growing logistics industry. And it’s a pattern that echoes across the region. Through a collaborative public history and art project called Live From the Frontline, researchers and residents are documenting the transformation — and toll — of supply chain communities in flux.

Read the full story: https://www.ucr.edu/magazine/presents...

(Photos/video courtesy of A People’s History of the I.E.)

00:00 The Impact of Commercialization on Valley Truck Farms
00:40 Live From the Frontline Overview
01:09 The History of St. Marks and Valley Truck Farms
01:40 The Intersection of History and Art
02:25 The Slow Violence of the Supply Chain
03:06 The Future of St. Marks Baptist Missionary Church

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