Johnnie-Mae Shannon Watkins: A Brave, Strong, Brilliant, Unsung American Hero
- Donald V. Watkins
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on September 27, 2025
Johnnie-Mae Shannon was born on July 12, 1928, in Tupelo, Mississippi to parents Mount and Johnnie Shannon. She was the youngest of their three children. Johnnie's sister Jessie-Bell Shannon and brother Solomon "Jack" Shannon were 14 and 12 years older than her, respectively.
In Tupelo, Johnnie-Mae's aunt and first cousins lived two houses down from a young white boy named Elvis Presley. Johnnie and her cousins played with Elvis as children and taught him how to do the swivel hip “Shake a Ray” dance moves that would later define Elvis's iconic music career.
Johnnie attended elementary and public school in Tupelo. On May 21, 1944, Johnnie-Mae graduated from the George Washington Carver High School as valedictorian, at age 15. On May 26, 1948, Johnnie-Mae graduated from Mississippi Industrial College as salutatorian, at age 19.
After graduating from college, Johnnie-Mae moved to Washington, D.C. and became a federal government employee at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for the next 33 and a half years.
Johnnie was a Mississippi-licensed elementary school professional, a certified expert in shorthand writing, a certified expert in English Grammer and Punctuation, and the November 21, 1955, recipient of the NAACP’s Certificate of Merit for her exceptional job-related performance and community service achievements in Washington.
In Washington, Johnnie-Mae Shannon met and fell in love with Joseph T. Watkins (Uncle J.T.), my father's youngest brother. They met during a chance encounter in the cafeteria of the Washington National Airport (known today as the "Ronald Reagan Airport").
On October 20, 1956, the couple married. This is when I became exposed to Johnnie-Mae Shannon and her brilliance, strength of courage, backbone of steel, and unwavering commitment to the advancement of civil rights for African Americans and women in America.
A Warrior for Equal Rights and Fair Employment Practices
By today's standards, Aunt Johnnie would be considered a warrior for civil rights, equal justice, fair employment practices, and equal pay for equal work. She was every bit as active in the NAACP's battles for fair employment, fair housing, and equal educational opportunities for African Americans and women in Washington, D.C., as my Uncle J.T. Like Uncle J.T., Aunt Johnnie was a life member of the NAACP in her own name.
Bonding with Aunt Johnnie and Uncle J.T.
Aunt Johnnie and I became close when my former wife, DeAndra Johnson Watkins, and I moved from Carbondale, Illinois to Washington immediately after my graduation from college in May 1970 to attend Howard University’s law school. We stayed at Aunt Johnnie’s home until we found a suitable apartment in Washington. Johnnie and J.T. helped us with the search and even furnished the new apartment.
Aunt Johnnie and J.T. helped DeAndra find and secure a good job in Washington, while paying me market rate wages to hand-paint the interior of their comfortable suburban home in the summer of 1970.
Johnnie and J.T. treated DeAndra and me as well as they treated their two children -- John Adam Watkins, II (born in 1959), and his sister, Monte Jean Watkins (born in 1965).
When Miles College President Lucius Pitts and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund recruited me in July to desegregate the University of Alabama’s law school in September 1970, Aunt Johnnie and J.T. strongly encouraged me to participate in that civil rights cause. They knew this NAACP-sponsored mission was dangerous and they stayed in constant contact with DeAndra and me. Aunt Johnnie sent us spending money on a regular basis.
Establishing a Washington, D.C. Civil Rights Law Office
After I graduated from UA's law school in May 1973 and passed my Alabama Bar exams in September, Johnnie and J.T. recruited me to come back to Washington to practice law. They gave me the money I needed to cover the costs associated with obtaining my D.C. law license, which I received on May 14, 1974.
Aunt Johnnie found a very nice law office building for me at the corner of Albemarle and Wisconsin in Georgetown. She and J.T. furnished my small law office, which they manned during their off time. I spent one week per month working in my Washington office.
Johnnie and J.T. channeled a steady flow of federal government employees to me who suffered from purposeful racial discrimination in promotional practices and overt violations of the equal pay for equal work standard. The legal work was good, profitable, and enjoyable. Our team won a lot of cases against the federal government.
Aunt Johnnie and Uncle J.T. always had my back. Their dedication to the cause of civil rights and equal justice is unsurpassed by anyone today.
My Washington law office arrangement continued until I was elected to the Montgomery, Alabama city council in October 1979. From that point forward, Alabama became the primary battleground for my federal civil rights cases and class action lawsuits.
Since its founding in 1819, Alabama has practiced purposeful, hardcore, unabated, "cradle to the grave" racial discrimination against its black citizens, as affirmed by three lengthy and well-documented federal court rulings issued in the summer of 2025. Two of these court opinions were written by conservative Donald Trump-appointed federal judges.
Additionally, Alabama proudly billed itself as the "Heart of Dixie" and "Cradle of the Confederacy." Until 1993, the Confederate flag flew above the United States flag atop of the Alabama State Capitol Building in Montgomery.
An Unsung American Civil Rights Hero
Aunt Johnnie has never gotten the recognition she deserves for her demonstrable commitment to the cause for civil rights in America. She was a fearless and unrelenting warrior who left it all on the battlefield for equal rights for African Americans and women.
Aunt Johnnie was a remarkable woman, a devoted wife, a loving mother, and a Rosa Parks/Johnnie Carr-category champion for civil rights and equal justice. Johnnie-Mae-Shannon Watkins lived her life like a true civil rights battlefield warrior.
Uncle J.T. died on November 3, 2005, at age 81.
Johnnie-Mae Shannon Watkins transitioned to Heaven on the wings of angels on July 13, 2020. She was 92-years-old.
In a world of guided missiles and misguided men/women, Aunt Johnnie's legacy of uplifting humanity lives on through her children -- John Adam Watkins, II, and Monte Jean Watkins Boone.
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