Annie Clo Watson
Annie Clo Watson | |
|---|---|
 Annie Clo Watson, from the 1914 yearbook of Southwestern University | |
| Born | April 26, 1891 Repton, Alabama |
| Died | January 7, 1960 Berkeley, California |
| Other names | Annie Chloe Watson |
| Occupation | Social worker |
Annie Clo Watson (April 26, 1891 – January 7, 1960) was an American social worker based in San Francisco, best known for her efforts on behalf of Japanese Americans during and after World War II.
Early life
[edit]Annie Clo (or Chloe) Watson was born in Repton, Alabama,[1] and raised in Texas,[2] the daughter of William Watson and Mattie E. Robbins Watson. Both of her parents were also born in Alabama; her father was a doctor.[3] She attended Southwestern University in Texas, where she played basketball and was president of her class.[4] She pursued further training in social work at Columbia University School of Social Work.[5]
Career
[edit]Watson became executive director of the YWCA's International Institute in San Antonio, Texas in 1928.[6][7] She became executive director of the International Institute in San Francisco in 1932,[8][9] and was president of the local chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. In 1944 helped to found the Fellowship Church for All People with Howard Thurman.[10][11] She was active in the American Civil Liberties Union and the California Conference of Social Work.[12]
During World War II, she organized the Pacific Coast Committee for American Principles and Fair Play,[13] hoping to mitigate some of the impact of the internment of Japanese Americans, and worked on war relocation issues at the YWCA's national headquarters in New York.[14] "She was among those who really went to bat for persons of Japanese ancestry at the outbreak of the war," commented an obituary in the Pacific Citizen newspaper.[15]
In 1948 she testified before a Congressional hearing on housing issues in San Francisco,[16] and spoke on a panel at the national meeting of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in Salt Lake City.[17] In 1952 she testified before the President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization, about the effects of changing laws on Asian Americans and Latino Americans in California,[18] and wrote a report, "The Social Integration of Mexicans and Other Latin Americans in San Francisco and the Bay Region" for the National Council on Naturalization and Citizenship.[19] Watson's writing on immigration was published in Journal of Educational Psychology.[20] She chaired the International Institute's Committee for Information on the Adoption of Japanese Children.[21] She retired in 1958, but continued as a consultant with the United Community Fund of San Francisco State College.[15][22]
Watson won the Koshland Award for Social Work in 1945.[23] The national JACL presented Watson with a Scroll of Appreciation in 1956.[15] In 1960, after she died, the JACL encouraged donations to the Annie Clo Watson Scholarship for Social Workers as a memorial.[24] Another memorial fund, the Annie Clo Watson Scholarship, funded a woman attendee at the West Coast Encampment for Citizenship.[25]
Personal life
[edit]Watson died from cancer in 1960 at her home in Berkeley, California, aged 68 years.[15][22] Her gravesite is with her parents' graves, in Uvalde, Texas. The University of Minnesota holds a collection of Annie Clo Watson papers.[26]
References
[edit]- ^ "Repton". The Pine Belt News. 1902-12-05. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-08-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Kido, Saburo (10 January 1960). "Memories of Days Gone By". Shin Nichibei. p. 1. Retrieved August 22, 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Mrs. Mattie E. Watson". The Evergreen Courant. 1955-02-03. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-08-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Southwestern University, Sou'Wester (1914 yearbook): 34. via Internet Archive
- ^ Work, Columbia University School of Social (1925). Bulletin. p. 53.
- ^ Watson, Annie Clo. "Mexicans in Texas" in Hubert Clinton Herring and Katharine Terrill, eds., The Genius of Mexico: Lectures Delivered Before the Fifth Seminar in Mexico 1930 (Committee on Cultural Relations with Latin America 1931): 235-240.
- ^ "Mexican Influx Discussed by Social Group". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1929-06-27. p. 21. Retrieved 2021-08-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Mjagkij, Nina; Spratt, Margaret Ann (1997). Men and Women Adrift: The YMCA and the YWCA in the City. NYU Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-8147-5541-9.
- ^ Lewis, Abigail Sara. "The Young Women's Christian Association's Multiracial Activism in the Immediate Postwar Era" in Danielle McGuire, ed., Freedom Rights: New Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement (University of Kentucky Press 2011): 82-83. ISBN 9780813134499
- ^ Robinson, Greg; Eisenstadt, Peter (June 3, 2021). "Howard Thurman and Japanese Americans - Part 2". Discover Nikkei. Archived from the original on 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
- ^ Thurman, Howard (2009-05-01). Footprints of a Dream: The Story of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-60608-451-9.
- ^ "Action Forced by Delegates". Oakland Tribune. 1939-05-19. p. 23. Retrieved 2021-08-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Finding Aid to the Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play records 1940-1951". Online Archive of California, Bancroft Library. Archived from the original on 2004-03-21. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
- ^ "YWCA Institute Honors National Board Member". The Dayton Herald. 1942-12-06. p. 43. Retrieved 2021-08-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "Wartime JACL Sponsor Annie Clo Watson Dies" (PDF). Pacific Citizen. January 15, 1960. p. 1. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
- ^ United States Congress Joint Committee on Housing (1948). Study and Investigation of Housing: Hearings Before the Joint Committee on Housing ... Eightieth Congress, First Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 4138–4141.
- ^ "Nisei Conclave to Feature 'Return' Panel". The Salt Lake Tribune. 1948-08-24. p. 24. Retrieved 2021-08-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ United States President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization (1952). Hearings. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 1054–1057.
- ^ Watson, Annie Clo (1952). The Social Integration of Mexicans and Other Latin Americans in San Francisco and the Bay Region. National Council on Naturalization and Citizenship.
- ^ Watson, Annie Clo (1943). "Americans on the Fringes". The Journal of Educational Sociology. 17 (1): 14–19. doi:10.2307/2262494. ISSN 0885-3525. JSTOR 2262494.
- ^ "SF Group to Form Japan Orphan Information Group States Report". Shin Nichibei. February 15, 1955. p. 6. Retrieved August 22, 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ a b "Ex-Alien Aide Dies in E. Bay". The San Francisco Examiner. 1960-01-08. p. 16. Retrieved 2021-08-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Park, Yoosun (2019-10-17). Facilitating Injustice: The Complicity of Social Workers in the Forced Removal and Incarceration of Japanese Americans, 1941-1946. Oxford University Press. pp. xviii, xix. ISBN 978-0-19-008135-5.
- ^ "National JACL Urges Doations for Watson Fund". Shin Nichibei. January 21, 1960. p. 1. Retrieved August 22, 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Community Study Aid Set Up". The San Francisco Examiner. 1960-05-02. p. 34. Retrieved 2021-08-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Collection: Annie Clo Watson papers". University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides. Archived from the original on 2021-08-22. Retrieved 2021-08-22.