Family, friends and community members gathered Saturday to celebrate the life and legacy of freedom fighter Hollis Watkins at his alma mater, Tougaloo College, a frequent meeting space and safe haven for civil rights activists.
Watkins died peacefully at his home in Clinton, Mississippi, September 20 at age 82, according the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, for which he served as chairman.
Born in Mississippi to sharecroppers, Watkins was the youngest of 12 children. The intense racism he endured from a young age motivated him to join the civil rights movement.
Watkins became a field secretary for the Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, where he worked alongside icons like Medgar Evers and Bob Moses. Police arrested and jailed Watkins several times for challenging segregation and registering Black people to vote.
In 1989, Watkins co-ounded Southern Echo, a nonprofit focused on empowering communities across the South through organizing, policy work, education, agriculture, training and technical assistance. Southern Echo was a Babcock grantee partner for two decades. In 2014, Watkins sat down with MRBF for a wide-ranging interview, sharing stories of his childhood, civil rights era memories and the founding of Echo. He also shared his frustration with the dearth of philanthropic funding in the South based on false notions of the region’s capacity.
“When you say, ‘They’re not ready,’ they’re not ready for what?” said Watkins. When you say, ‘Folks in Mississippi ain’t ready,’ then you are saying, ‘People in Mississippi is not ready to come out of slavery. People in Mississippi is not ready to be a part of a fair and equitable system for this country.’ And I don’t believe that. I think we all are ready for that. I hope Mississippi and the region can get to the point where we, as human beings, see all people as human beings.”
“It is wincingly painful to lose a lion like Hollis, particularly at a time when the very values he fought for are under coordinated attack,” said MRBF CEO Flozell Daniels Jr. “His example and legacy serve as a roadmap for us and future generations of leaders striving courageously toward a more equitable South.”
From his teenage years, Watkins understood the power of music in organizing during the civil rights movement, inspiring people to take action through freedom songs.
Get on board, children, children.
Get on board, children, children.
Get on board, children, children.
Let’s fight for human rights.
Babcock’s board, staff, grantees and allies will carry on the fight. Rest well, Brother Watkins. And thank you.
