Hollis Watkins

Hollis Watkins (July 29, 1941 – September 20, 2023) was an American activist who was part of the Civil Rights Movement activities in the state of Mississippi during the 1960s. He became a member and organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1961, was a county organizer for 1964's "Freedom Summer", and assisted the efforts of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to unseat the regular Mississippi delegation from their chairs at the 1964 Democratic Party national convention in Atlantic City. He founded Southern Echo, a group that gives support to other grass-roots organizations in Mississippi. He also was a founder of the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement.

Watkins was born on July 29, 1941, in Lincoln County, Mississippi,^{[citation needed]} USA, near the town of Summit. He was the youngest and twelfth child of sharecroppers John and Lena Watkins. His family purchased a farm about 1949, via a loan program started under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Watkins graduated from the segregated Lincoln County Training School in 1960. He was also a student at Tougaloo College. Tougaloo's commitment to the freedom movement was rare, as it was one of the few all-black colleges that allowed any type of political activity; this was largely because it was one of the only all-black schools at that time that wasn't run by a white segregationist. Watkins was part of the Work-Study Program at Tougaloo, which allowed students to be active in the movement while still earning credits towards a degree.

During his youth Watkins attended National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) youth meetings led by Medgar Evers. In 1961 Watkins met Bob Moses who was organizing in Mississippi for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Watkins was asked by Bob Moses to join the Voter Registration Organization effort in McComb. Watkins became involved the next day. He joined SNCC, and began canvassing potential voters around McComb, Mississippi in Amite County. He soon became a mentor and role model for McComb High School activists. He participated in McComb's first sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter in an attempt to achieve integration, for which he was jailed for 34 days. During his time in jail, he was threatened on several occasions, including once being shown a noose and told that he would be hung that night. He kept his decision to participate in the sit-in a secret from his parents knowing they wouldn't allow him to do so, but when his father found out he spoke at a mass meeting protesting their arrest. This support helped encourage Watkins during his difficult time in jail.

Afterwards he took part in a walk-out at McComb's coloured high school, along with dozens of other activists including Brenda Travis, which resulted in his being sentenced to 39 more days in jail. Watkins' activism also had a personal price. Many of his extended family ostracized him and would not recognize him in public for fear of losing their jobs; the White Citizens Council and other groups conducted economic boycotts against activist blacks, getting them fired, evicted from rental properties, and refusing loans and credit.

Vernon Dahmer, president of the Forrest County, Mississippi NAACP asked SNCC for help with voter registration, and Watkins moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to help with that project. Watkins worked half days at Dahmer's sawmill to pay his way and spent the rest of the time organizing voter registration projects. He was rebuffed from efforts to meet at Hattiesburg's Baptist churches but had success at the St. James Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. His first effort led to six people volunteering to try and register, including Victoria Gray Adams. At the request of Amzie Moore, he next went to Holmes County, Mississippi, where he began to canvass potential voters. He was willing to risk his life for this movement, for instance, one day he went to a shack on a plantation to talk to them about voting but ended up being chased away and shot at by the plantation owner, however, that didn't stop him from going back the next week.

Supplied with equipment by CBS News, Watkins went to the clerk of court's office with a hidden camera and microphone in order to film a typical encounter with voter registration officer Theron Lynd. CBS News was covering the movement. The footage of Lynd and some of Watkins was aired as a "CBS Reports" program called "Mississippi and the Fifteenth Amendment." It has since been re-released on DVD as "Mississippi and the Black Vote."

Watkins was with Hartman Turnbow and others when Turnbow tried to register to vote at the Holmes County Courthouse. That night there was a firebomb attack on Turnbow's home. Turnbow was later accused by the sheriff of setting fire to his own house, and he, Watkins and other SNCC workers were arrested. It was during one of his jail terms that Watkins became noted as a leader and singer of "freedom songs." Watkins led freedom songs with Lawrence Guyot. These songs provided people with joy, spirit, and honesty. It was a way to lift people's spirits and provide a sense of comfort.

Watkins was involved in voter registration in many ways. After becoming a SNCC field secretary he went to Hattiesburg and set up a three-month voter registration project with a budget of only 50 dollars. Watkins also went on to do movement work in Greenwood, Mississippi and other locations, working with Sam Block, Willie Peacock, Annell Ponder, John Ball and others. In addition to voter registration projects, Watkins taught voter education and basic literacy classes. In the early 1960s, Watkins attended Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, a school which trained grassroots organizers. Later he served as a member of the board. He was in Washington D.C. at the time of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, but did not participate in the march. Instead, he, Bob Moses, and Curtis Hayes picketed the Department of Justice. While in Washington, Watkins met and talked with Malcolm X, leader of the Nation of Islam.