The Homecoming: My Long-Awaited Return to Parsons, Kansas

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on June 11, 2025

Life started for me 76 years ago at Mercy Hospital and 2401 Morgan Avenue in Parsons, Kansas.  I am the 5th child of Levi and Lillian Watkins.  My four older siblings -- Marie, Pearl, Levi, Jr., and Doristine -- were also born in Parsons.  My brother James was born after our family moved to Montgomery, Alabama in 1949.

My father was the principal of the Douglass School for Colored Students in Parsons, a job he started in May 1940.  Douglass was his first and only principalship.

Throughout our lives, my siblings and I have known the critical role that Parsons and the Douglass School played in our family’s development and growth. Parsons was a launchpad for my parents, my siblings, and me. 

Fast-Forward to 2025

On New Year’s Day 2025, Ms. Sontana Johnson, the CEO/Founder of SEK Juneteenth Foundation in Parsons, emailed me the following message:

“Mr. Watkins, I would like to ask you if you could come to Parsons in June for our Juneteenth celebration?  I would love and be so honored if you could be the speaker.  I would like for you to tell the story of your Father.  I want people of Parsons to know the power that was in this community.  I have been fighting for change for years and I would truly hope you can accept this invitation.”

Ms. Johnson’s invitation was God-sent.  It was a calling to come back home to Parsons, a city of 9,362 residents today. 

When we lived in Parsons (1940 to 1949), my Dad prepared a directory of Parson's 1,284 Negro residents. It was used as a resource tool for the Parsons Community Service Fund and an organizational guide for the local chapter of the NAACP.

After consulting with my siblings, I promptly accepted Ms. Johnson's invitation on behalf of myself and the Watkins family.

Why Parsons is Important to Us

Parsons means many things to many people.  To the Watkins family, it is the place where my father and mother birthed their first five children.  It is the place where my parents bought their first home (in a nice, middle-class, integrated neighborhood). Parsons is also the place where they honed their skills as parents and educators to develop young minds, build their character, and mold their will to break through the most entrenched racial barriers.  

Starting with the students at the Douglass School in the fall of 1940 and continuing with their own young children, my parents developed, implemented, and perfected the art of motivating young children to set and achieve exceptionally high goals in life. They cultivated, nurtured, and harnessed the brain-power that Douglass students and their own children would use to lift their rockets off the launchpad and thrust them into life's highest orbits. They also prepared these young minds to consistently outperform society’s expectations of them. 

Parsons has been at the heart of every achievement my parents and their progeny have accomplished since 1940. The outstanding scholastic achievement of Douglass students propelled my Dad into the first of three college and university presidencies.  Additionally, Parsons positioned the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th generations of Watkins family members to attend and graduate from more than 70 colleges and universities around the world. 

A Chance to Say, "Thank You!"

Next week, I will return to Parsons for the first time since the Watkins family left for Dad’s first job at Alabama State University in 1949.  I am returning to the city on behalf of a grateful Watkins family to say "thank you" to Parsons at the city's annual Juneteeth celebration.

Because of the love and support we received during our nine years in Parsons, Douglass School students and Watkins family members were able to lift themselves beyond the gravitational pull of the racism we consistently encountered throughout life. 

Because of Parsons, we were able to overcome seemingly insurmountable racial barriers to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive American society.

Because of Parsons, we learned and mastered the art of navigating life's most difficult seas.