Capt. James Paul (U.S. Air Force, Retired) died today. He was one of my two best friends in Tuscaloosa, Alabama when George Jones and I desegregated our University of Alabama law school class from 1970 to 1973. Capt. Paul's Air Force officer's training helped us hold it all together under the most difficult of circumstances.  Because of Capt. Paul, all of us made it to the other side of midnight with our sanity intact, our heads held high, and our credentials in order.

Johnnie-Mae Shannon Watkins was a brave, strong, brilliant, unsung American hero. This Tupelo, Mississippi native was a trailblazing civil rights activist in Washington, D.C. during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Working together with her husband, Joseph T. Watkins, Johnnie-Mae changed the face of the federal workforce in Washington. This is her remarkable story.

The Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League baseball teams was owned by Thomas Henry Hayes, Jr., a Memphis, Tennessee businessman and Watkins family friend. My early exposure to this business icon fueled my passion as a child to own a major league sports team. "If you can see it, you can be it." This article tells the incredible story of the first professional sports team owner I met.

When I speak out about an issue of significant public interest on my digital media platforms, I do so out of a family tradition of standing up for what is right. Today, the despicable conduct that thoughtful Americans must defeat is presidential-level protectionism for an elite class of rich, powerful, and politically connected child molesters, child rapists, and child pornographers who have found a staunch ally and self-proclaimed "Grab Them by the Pussy" comrade in the Whi

This article is about the miracle of life -- my youngest son's life. It is also a love story that warms the heart. Finally, it is a testament to power of modern medicine and faith in God as a Way Maker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, and Light in the Darkness.

When properly motivated, when exposed to competent and dedicated teachers, and when prepared as the "whole child" in the "whole school" and supported by the "whole community," Black public school students can outperform any group of students, intellectually and academically. This article explains how this remarkable feat was accomplished, twice, in a Kansas school system in the 1940s.

Educational excellence for Black school-age students is a realistic and achievable goal. It has been accomplished many times in the past, despite America's historical mistreatment of its Black citizens and other marginalized groups. It is more than possible to achieve this worthy goal, once again. This article explains what it takes to do so.

Next week, I am returning to the place where I was born for the first time since my family left in 1949. It's a trip to say "thank you" to a small Kansas city and a loving Black community that played a very big role in the Watkins family's development and growth in America.

Tomorrow, Levi Seth Watkins will graduate from Princeton University. He will be the first Watkins family member to graduate from Princeton. Seth is also the first family member who took courses at universities in Nanjing, China and Prague, Czechoslovakia. Since childhood, Seth has eyed the world as his opportunity zone. He joins the newest generation of Watkins family members who are truly global in every sense of the word.

An act of kindness by a stranger in Kentucky delivered a missing and cherished piece of history to the Watkins family. After 84 years, this priceless item found its way back home.

Yesterday, President Donald Trump gave some excellent advice to University of Alabama graduates during his special commencement speech in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  After the political rhetoric is filtered out of his speech, each one of Trump’s 11 core tenets for success in life is sound, valuable, and practical.

I am a very spiritual person, but I no longer view the Modern Church as a spiritual home for me.  The Modern Church is often misaligned with the teachings of the Jesus I know. This article explains why.

Meet the people who fueled my knowledge and blocked for me on the playing field of life. All of them were/are super smart people.

Meet Arlam Carr, Jr., the brave 13-year-old black student whose federal court case desegregated the public schools in Montgomery, Alabama.

Life in America for the Watkins family began with a young slave girl's transatlantic voyage to the New World. Her endurance birthed ours.

Watkins family members have been educators in America since the 1880s. The first four teachers in our family were the Darden sisters.

Dr. Samuel Augustus Owen was an iconic minister in Memphis, Tennessee. He was also an educational leader. This is his inspirational story.

It's in my bloodline. My maternal grandfather was a Baptist minster and early civil rights advocate in the South. This is his story.

American Beach is a case study in black economic empowerment. It shows what blacks can do when they network with each other.

The Declaration of Independence condemned (a) King George's refusal to return runaway slaves to captivity and (b) merciless Indian savages."