By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on January 4, 2025
The modest home at 2401 Morgan Avenue in Parsons, Kansas is where my family lived from 1940 to 1949. This one-story home was filled with the love and support my parents, Levi and Lillian Watkins, had for each other and their five children who were born in Parsons -- Marie, Pearl, Levi, Jr., Doristine, and me.
Parsons is a small town with a population of 9,600 residents, according to the 2020 Census.
Our home on Morgan Avenue, which was recently demolished, was the first of six launchpads for our success in life.
Our home was located in a racially mixed neighborhood. Our neighbors directly across the street were white, as well as the ones on the side street of our corner lot.
My parents started our family with the birth of my sisters Marie and Pearl, who were two years apart.
Then, came Levi, Jr., Doristine, and me in fairly quick succession. Our youngest brother James was born in Montgomery, Alabama.
We attended church every Sunday at New Hope Baptist Church in Parsons, which is where Marie was baptized by Rev. Gardner.
The Douglass School for Colored Students
My parents arrived in Parsons in May 1940 after Rees H. Hughes, the local superintendent of schools, hired my dad as the new principal of Douglass Junior High and Elementary School for colored students. Dad welcomed the opportunity to assembled a dedicated faculty of highly qualified teachers for the purpose of giving Douglass School students an exceptional educational experience.
By 1945, every Douglass student dressed the part, looked the part, achieved at a high academic level, and commanded the respect of his/her community. The faculty and students depicted in the school photo below beam with pride and self-respect.
Marie and Pearl attended the Douglass school until our family moved to Montgomery in the Summer of 1949. Levi, Jr., Doristine, and I were too young to attend Douglass.
Joseph T. Watkins Lived with Us in Parsons for Two Years
My father’s youngest brother, Joseph T. Watkins, lived with us at 2401 Morgan Avenue while he attended Parsons Junior College (now known as Labette Community College). Uncle J.T. graduated from the Junior College in 1943.
Even though the public K-12 schools in Kansas were racially segregated, the colleges and universities were not. Because so few blacks attended college in Kansas after graduating from high school, it was cheaper for the state to allow college-bound "colored students" to attend the state's white colleges than it was to build and operate a "separate but equal" college for them.
Dad's Early Civil Rights Activism
In addition to working as the principal of Douglass from 1940 to 1949, my father also served as executive director of the Parsons Community Service Fund. This organization funded activities to organize the small black population in Parsons and advance equal educational opportunities.
As you can see from the May 9, 1947, Parsons Sun newspaper article reprinted below, my father completed a "directory of Negro residents and organizations of Parsons" to aid the NAACP in mobilizing its local civil rights activities.
Epilogue
My dad's highly successful principalship at Douglass and his community activism in Parsons led to successful college presidencies at Owen Junior College in Memphis, Tennessee and Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama.
In 1958, the Douglass School fell victim to court-ordered school desegregation in Labette County. The Douglass School closed and was demolished with all of its furnishings and memorabilia inside. The local, all-white school board saw no value in preserving Douglass, its furnishings, its history, or its heritage.
While the school building is gone now, the spirit of the Douglass School lives on in the hearts of those who were positively impacted by its educational excellence.
As for my siblings and me, 2401 Morgan Avenue and the Douglass School have a special and enduring place in our lives. This is where it all began for us.