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'''Wade Watts''' (September 23, 1919 – December 13, 1998) was an [[African American]] [[gospel]] [[preacher]] and [[civil rights activist]] from [[Oklahoma]]. He served as the state president of the Oklahoma chapter of the [[NAACP]] for sixteen years,<ref name="Great Black Hope">''[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/9610.waldman.html The GOP's Great Black Hope]'' by Amy Waldman [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com Washington Monthly]</ref> challenging the [[Ku Klux Klan]] through [[Christianity|Christian]] [[love doctrine]]. He worked with [[Thurgood Marshall]] and developed a friendship with [[Martin Luther King]] during the [[American civil rights movement]], and has been cited as a mentor by the current leader of the NAACP in Oklahoma, [[Miller Newman]], and his nephew, former [[United States Congress|congressman]], [[J. C. Watts]]. |
'''Wade Watts''' (September 23, 1919 – December 13, 1998) was an [[African American]] [[gospel]] [[preacher]] and [[civil rights activist]] from [[Oklahoma]]. He served as the state president of the Oklahoma chapter of the [[NAACP]] for sixteen years,<ref name="Great Black Hope">''[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/9610.waldman.html The GOP's Great Black Hope]'' by Amy Waldman [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com Washington Monthly]</ref> challenging the [[Ku Klux Klan]] through [[Christianity|Christian]] [[love doctrine]]. He worked with [[Thurgood Marshall]] and developed a friendship with [[Martin Luther King]] during the [[American civil rights movement]], and has been cited as a mentor by the current leader of the NAACP in Oklahoma, [[Miller Newman]], and his nephew, former [[United States Congress|congressman]], [[J. C. Watts]]. |
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==Biography== |
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Watts worked to desegregate public facilities and institutions during the 1940s and 50s. He worked with Thurgood Marshall on [[Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher|Ada Lois Sipuel]] challenge to segregation in the law school of [[Oklahoma University]]; consequently the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] ruled in 1948, in [[Sipuel v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla.]], that barring Sipuel from the school was unconstitutional.<ref name="Great Black Hope"/> In the late 1950s, Watts and [[Oklahoma Senate|Oklahoma State Senator]] [[Gene Stipe]] entered a restaurant, when a waitress stopped them at the door and told them that the restaurant "did not serve Negroes," Watts replied, "I don't eat Negroes. I just came to get some ham and eggs."<ref name="Williamson">''[http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/storydownload.asp?ID=15196 Not a Chance Encounter, but a Divine Appointment With Truth (Word download)]'' by Dana Williamson, [http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/ Southern Baptist Press]</ref> He also worked to desegregate local institutions and together with his brother, Buddy, ensured that his nephew, J.C. Watts, was one of the first black children to attend the newly integrated elementary school in their community.<ref name="Four Eyes">''[http://www.jessejacksonjr.org/issues/i090897116.html Four Eyes On The Prize] by Howard Fineman of ''[[Newsweek]]'', posted on [http://www.jessejacksonjr.org/issues/i090897116.html jessejacksonjr.org]</ref> He rose to become the head of the NAACP in Oklahoma, and became friends with national leaders of the civil rights movement like Martin Luther King. |
Watts worked to desegregate public facilities and institutions during the 1940s and 50s. He worked with Thurgood Marshall on [[Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher|Ada Lois Sipuel]] challenge to segregation in the law school of [[Oklahoma University]]; consequently the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] ruled in 1948, in [[Sipuel v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla.]], that barring Sipuel from the school was unconstitutional.<ref name="Great Black Hope"/> In the late 1950s, Watts and [[Oklahoma Senate|Oklahoma State Senator]] [[Gene Stipe]] entered a restaurant, when a waitress stopped them at the door and told them that the restaurant "did not serve Negroes," Watts replied, "I don't eat Negroes. I just came to get some ham and eggs."<ref name="Williamson">''[http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/storydownload.asp?ID=15196 Not a Chance Encounter, but a Divine Appointment With Truth (Word download)]'' by Dana Williamson, [http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/ Southern Baptist Press]</ref> He also worked to desegregate local institutions and together with his brother, Buddy, ensured that his nephew, J.C. Watts, was one of the first black children to attend the newly integrated elementary school in their community.<ref name="Four Eyes">''[http://www.jessejacksonjr.org/issues/i090897116.html Four Eyes On The Prize] by Howard Fineman of ''[[Newsweek]]'', posted on [http://www.jessejacksonjr.org/issues/i090897116.html jessejacksonjr.org]</ref> He rose to become the head of the NAACP in Oklahoma, and became friends with national leaders of the civil rights movement like Martin Luther King. |
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Revision as of 21:58, 12 June 2009
Wade Watts (September 23, 1919 – December 13, 1998) was an African American gospel preacher and civil rights activist from Oklahoma. He served as the state president of the Oklahoma chapter of the NAACP for sixteen years,[1] challenging the Ku Klux Klan through Christian love doctrine. He worked with Thurgood Marshall and developed a friendship with Martin Luther King during the American civil rights movement, and has been cited as a mentor by the current leader of the NAACP in Oklahoma, Miller Newman, and his nephew, former congressman, J. C. Watts.
Biography
Watts worked to desegregate public facilities and institutions during the 1940s and 50s. He worked with Thurgood Marshall on Ada Lois Sipuel challenge to segregation in the law school of Oklahoma University; consequently the Supreme Court ruled in 1948, in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla., that barring Sipuel from the school was unconstitutional.[1] In the late 1950s, Watts and Oklahoma State Senator Gene Stipe entered a restaurant, when a waitress stopped them at the door and told them that the restaurant "did not serve Negroes," Watts replied, "I don't eat Negroes. I just came to get some ham and eggs."[2] He also worked to desegregate local institutions and together with his brother, Buddy, ensured that his nephew, J.C. Watts, was one of the first black children to attend the newly integrated elementary school in their community.[3] He rose to become the head of the NAACP in Oklahoma, and became friends with national leaders of the civil rights movement like Martin Luther King.
In 1976 Watts' nephew, J.C., had a daughter out of wedlock with a white schoolmate.[4] Both families felt that an interracial marriage would be impractical because of contemporary racial attitudes,[3] and some members of the mother's family did not want to raise a black child.[4] The families decided that the pregnancy should be brought to term and that Wade Watts and his wife would adopt and raise the girl.[3]
As the state leader of the NAACP, Watts was a target of the Ku Klux Klan and in 1979 had the opportunity to debate the Grand Dragon of the Oklahoma KKK, Johnny Lee Clary, on an Oklahoma City radio station. Clary refused to shake Watts hand before the broadcast, but Watts shook his hand any way and introduced himself by telling Clary that Jesus loved him. [5][2] When they were leaving the radio station Watts introduced Clary to his wife and the niece that they were raising and asked Clary how he could hate the little girl, causing Clary to realize at the time that he could not. [2] Watts reminded Clary whenever they spoke that God loved him, even responding to a threatening phone call from Clary, in which he told Watts that the he and other Klansmen were coming for him, to which Watts responded by telling Clary that it was unnecessary because Watts would meet Clary and buy him dinner. When Clary renounced the KKK, he and Watts became close friends. [5]
Watts' was a life long Democrat[1] and took issue with his nephew's position as a national leader in the Republican party—which Watts viewed as opposing the interests of "poor people, working people, [and] common people."[1] His nephew countered by saying his support of the Republican party stemmed from his perception that the Democrats had let his uncle down, saying that his uncle had, "delivered more black votes for the democratic [sic] Party than any black person in the state of Oklahoma,"[1]and yet it was a Republican who gave his uncle a decent job, a point his uncle conceded. [1] Despite the disagreement, Watts still said he was proud of what his nephew had achieved [1], and J.C. Watts continues to express admiration for his uncle[6]
The current leader of the Oklahoma NAACP, Miller Newman, considers Watts—who was pastor of the Jerusalem Baptist Church in his hometown of McAlester, Oklahoma for many years—to have had a great influence on his life. [7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g The GOP's Great Black Hope by Amy Waldman Washington Monthly
- ^ a b c Not a Chance Encounter, but a Divine Appointment With Truth (Word download) by Dana Williamson, Southern Baptist Press
- ^ a b c Four Eyes On The Prize by Howard Fineman of Newsweek, posted on jessejacksonjr.org
- ^ a b Facing Sin by Marvin Olasky World Magazine
- ^ a b Why Bush Should Choose J.C. Watts as His VP by Jerome F. Winzig
- ^ www.starbittrune.com, hosts a copy of the 1997 Republican rebuttal to President Clinton's State of the Union Address given by J.C. Watts.
- ^ Newman beginning NAACP leadership, McAlester News