A Missing and Cherished Piece of History was Returned to the Watkins Family, via the Kindness of a Stranger

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on May 24, 2025

An Editorial Opinion

On May 14, 2025, I received an email from a stranger in Kentucky who was prepared to send me a missing piece of history that is cherished by the Watkins family.  That person is Cara Ellis from Morehead, Kentucky.

Ms. Ellis’s email read:

“I recently came across a copy of a Booker T. Washington illustrated book called 'From the Cradle to the Grave' in a free book giveaway on Morehead State University’s campus. Inside the book was a program from the 1940-1941 school year at Douglass School, which upon reading your blog posts and biography, I have discovered that your father was the principal during this time frame.  I wanted to reach out to see if you had any additional information about this book and if so, would you be willing to provide?  Additionally, would you like me to mail you the program found inside the book? I wanted to ask since it likely has significant meaning to you, and I’d be more than happy to send it to you.”

I immediately responded to Ms. Ellis and asked her to send me the program.  It arrived today -- on the weekend before my grandson's (Levi Seth Watkins) graduation from Princeton University on Tuesday.  

Booker T. Washington was one of my Dad's heroes in the field of education. For 84 years, Washington's book housed a pristine copy of the program of the Douglass School’s Closing Exercises for the 1940-41 school year. This was my Dad’s first year as the principal of the Douglass School for Colored Students in Parsons, Kansas.

This small all-black school was my Dad’s first and only principalship.  After his Douglass School years (1940-1949), Dad assumed the presidency at three historically Black colleges and universities for the remainder of his career in education.

When I saw the Douglass School program, I became overwhelmed with a range of emotions. Parsons is where it all began for Marie, Pearl, Levi, Jr., Teannie, and me

-- at our home on 2401 Morgan Avenue and at the Douglass School for Marie and Pearl.

Levi and Lillian Watkins with their children Marie, Pearl, and Levi, Jr., in front of the Douglass School.

The 1940-41 Douglass School Program Embodies Our Family Values

As I studied every line of the four-page program, I quickly realized that the Watkins family values that were instilled in my siblings and me by our parents were embodied throughout this program.  Every word of the program, which was written by my dad seven years before I was born, reflected their devotion and commitment to uplifting our race.

Even though Douglass School was a K-8 school for “Colored" students, Dad believed he could make Douglass a premier school in the Parsons school system, and he instilled this belief and a tremendous sense of pride in his students. The faculty, staff, and students took whatever meager resources the local school system gave them and turned the Douglass School into an educational powerhouse and source of community pride.

Douglass School faculty and students, 1945.

Every page of the program reflected the core principles we learned growing up: Take pride in who you are.  Respect yourself and have respect for others. Confidence comes from knowing who you are and where you came from.  Each student is capable of learning to his/her full potential if he/she is taught by competent, prepared, and dedicated teachers. Let your work speak for you .... and you’ll never have to say anything about yourself.

The program is laid out in a very professional manner. It reflects the style and class Dad exhibited when publishing The New Herald newspaper in Clarksville, Tennessee from 1935 to 1940.

The first page is titled, “Closing Exercise.”  This page lists the calendar of events for the week of May 23-30, 1941.  

Right away, I noticed the invitation to visit the exhibits prepared by students in the school’s Arts, Home Economics, and Woodwork departments.  Growing up, Dad nurtured my fascination with making toys, building wooden push cars, and sculpturing figures out of wood, as well as designing wooden homes in Industrial Arts classes. Now, I understand why.

The second page is titled, “Annual Vesper Service.” It features seven religious songs and participation by four local pastors, including a sermonette by Rev. A. L. Gardner of New Hope Baptist Church (our family church in Parsons).  Historically, the Watkins family has always been deeply rooted in faith and has always been a major supporter of civil rights activism. 

The songs for the program were selected by Edward C. Lewis, Jr., who would later become the longtime, famous band director and “Father of the Music Department” at Dad’s alma mater – Tennessee State University.

The third page of the program is titled, “Senior Exercise.” During the nadir, Parsons did not build a high school for "Colored" students.  Instead, the school system designated the higher grades at Douglass as the high school for "Colored" students.  The handful of Black students who wanted to attend grades 9-12 were permitted to enroll in the nearly-all white Parsons High School.

The third page also features a wide array of musical selections, a Valedictorian Address by 8th grade student Wilma Jean McKnight titled, “Shall We Rise by Merit or Protest?”, and the presentation of the Senior Class.

The fourth page featured a “Primary Operatta” titled, “Peter Rabbit,” and an Elementary Pageant titled, “The Emancipation Proclamation.”  The pageant depicted the “rise and development of the Negro race beginning with the jungle scenes of Africa and ending with a panorama of outstanding personalities in contemporary life.”  The page concluded with a listing of the graduates.

The pageant mirrors the history of: (a) our great-great maternal grandmother's childhood in West Africa, (b) her captivity and transatlantic voyage in the hellhole of a British slave ship, (c) her arrival in the U.S., (d) her enslavement and eventual emancipation in Mississippi, (e) the start of the Carmichael/Varnado/Watkins family in America, (f) our family's steadfast and heavy investment in education for every member of each generation since the end of the Civil War in 1865, and (g) the outstanding people our family members met along life's journey. In retrospect, this pageant was the prequel to our real life Watkins family story.

When I put the program down, I realized that my parents had prepared a formula for success and instilled it in the young students at the Douglass School long before I was born.  They also applied this formula to their own children. This formula has stood the test of time and remains in effect in the Watkins family today.

Epilogue

Wilma Jean McKnight, the 8th grade student who gave the Valedictorian Address on May 28, 1941, continued her education at Parsons High School and held a number of important jobs and roles in Parsons during her lifetime.  Ms. McKnight died on January 28, 2024, at the age of 96.

Wilma Jean McKnight, Parsons, Kansas

Jesse J. Merida, who is depicted below in the photo of the teachers at Douglass in 1940-41, eventually became a principal in Wichita, Kansas.  He died on March 14, 1988.  Merida's oldest son, Jesse E. Merida, became a geologist and paleontologist employed with the United States Geological Survey and Smithsonian Institution.  Merida's grandson, Kevin Merida, served as the Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Times from 2021 to 2025.

At the invitation of local civil rights champion Sontana "Tana" Johnson, I will return to Parsons for the first time since our family left in 1949 to participate in this year's Juneteenth celebration. The event will honor my Dad's work at the Douglass School. I am looking forward to returning to the place where it all started for me.