By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on January 3, 2025
The four women featured in the charcoal drawings shown above are sisters. They are members of the Darden family within my bloodline. These women are the sisters of Rev. George Harry Darden, who is my paternal grandmother's father. They were my grandmother's aunts on the Darden side of the family.
After the Civil War ended in 1865, Rev. Darden became a Baptist minister in Trigg County, Kentucky. He later founded a small church-affiliated school that provided formal education to "colored" children in the Montgomery community of Trigg County. All four of Darden's sisters were teachers in this school, as well as other "colored" schools within Trigg County.
These charcoal drawings were commissioned by Rev. Darden after he opened his school opened in the late 1880s. The drawings have been in the custoday of Watkins family members since the school closed in the mid-1900s.
My paternal grandfather Adam Watkins attended Rev. Darden's school. So did my paternal grandmother, Sallie Emma Darden. Adam Watkins eventually married Sallie Emma Darden.
George Harry Darden, a former slave of African descent, taught himself how to read and write early in life. He and his sisters received additional educational instruction from their half-brother, who was an educated Caucasian in Trigg County.
Below is Sallie Emma Darden's maternal grandmother. They called my great, great grandmother "Raye."
Raye was a full-blooded member of the Cherokee Nation, which white colonists called one of the "Five Civilized Tribes." Raye lived and worked as a successful businesswoman in Wallonia, a "triracial isolate" rural community in what is now known as Trigg County, Kentucky. She was highly literate in "Syllabary,"the Cherokee's unique writing system. Invented in 1809 by a Cherokee tribal leader named Sequoyah, a large portion of the Cherokee Nation could read and write using this system.
Education has been the cornerstone of the Carmichael/Varnado/Watkins family’s success in America since the Civil War ended.
Since 1830, the Carmichael/Varnado/Watkins family has always stressed educational excellence, brainpower, goal setting, focus, perseverance, patience, financial independence, and hard work to secure and protect our future in American society. These are the only tools that have consistently worked in the face of never-ending impediments to our inclusion in the socio-economic progress of this nation.
Our family mantra is simple. Once a Watkins student enters any classroom, first place is taken by him/her. We will outthink, outwork, outperform, and outlast any competitor or adversary. This is our brand of “affirmative action.”
The Watkins family does not complain whenever we are cheated out of victories that rightfully belong to us, or whenever we are "railroaded" in contests by biased officials. These…
The Watkins family entered the news business in March 1935 with the launch of the New Herald newspaper in Clarksville, Tennessee. The newspaper sought to portray Black Americans in the most authentic and positive light possible at a time when southern White society routinely portrayed them as buck-dancing “coons” and “niggas.” Today, we believe that brainpower must be showcased much like American society showcases athleticism and entertainment. https://www.donaldwatkins.com/post/the-new-herald-this-is-who-we-were
This is my oldest sister Marie when she graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tennessee at 16-years-old. Today, Marie is the matriarch of the Watkins family. She is the philanthropist who oversees all Watkins family scholarship programs.
This family history is passed down to every generation in the Watkins family. We are teaching it to the seventh generation right now. Additionally, we are ramping up our scholarships for deserving college-bound students from underserved communities who want to become doctors and dentists. Our family's goal is to place up to 300 high school graduates per year on these "full ride" scholarships by the commencement of the 2029-30 school year. We will work this scholarship program through Tennessee State University's seven-year Accelerated Academic Program with Meharry Medical College. https://www.donaldwatkins.com/post/tennessee-state-university-accelerates-the-pathway-for-becoming-a-doctor-and-dentist-with-an-innovat
In 1880, D. M. Brown was a school teacher at the colored school in Cadiz (Trigg County). By 1886, there were 3 colored school districts in Trigg County. In 1887, Rev. Wendell H. McRidley founded and was the first president of the Cadiz Normal and Theological College. The number of colored schools continued to grow, and in 1895, there were 19 colored schools in Trigg County, with two of the schools in session for more than 5 months. Nine of the schools were held in log buildings and 10 were held in frame structures. The average attendance was 1,218 students, who were taught by 21 teachers in 1895-96, and 1,054 students taught by 22 teachers in 1896-97. The teachers' average…