DETROIT – Former Detroit City Council member Reverend Dr. JoAnn Watson has died.
Watson was the first woman to serve as executive director of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP.
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She’s been the senior pastor at West Side Unity Church and was recently appointed to the City’s first-ever reparations task force.
There has been no word on her cause of death.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on July 22, at the Fellowship Chapel at 7707 W. Outer Drive in Detroit. The service will be preceded by family hour at 10 a.m. until 11 a.m. There will be no public viewing other than the funeral, as per the family’s request.
“The City of Detroit, the Nation, and the World lost a true Detroit and Civil Rights icon. Mother Watson, as well as all so many affectionately called her, was a trailblazer, stalwart, and one-of-a-kind freedom fighter who loved her people and the Lord. Mother Watson, the first woman to serve as the Executive Director at the Detroit NAACP, former Detroit City Council Member, and a former delegate to the 2001 United Nations World Conference on Racism, laid the blueprint for fighting on all fronts for equality and freedom.
There are so many elected officials, leaders, advocates, pastors, business professionals, and community leaders that are who they are because Mother Watson was who she was - present company included. I had the distinct honor of appointing Mother Watson to the Detroit’s first-ever Reparations Task Force recently in honor of her life’s work and dedication around the issue. Further honoring her legacy, we launched the Task Force at her church, and having the opportunity to appoint her, along with our subsequent conversations, are memories I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Today, God called upon our beloved Mother, the Honorable Rev. Dr. Joann Watson, saying, “Job well done, my faithful servant,” and she went home to be with the Lord. I send my sincerest condolences and prayers to her family, friends, and the scores of Detroiters, and Americans whose lives she touched and that are mourning her death. She will be sorely missed. May God Bless her soul!”
Council President Mary Sheffield
“I am sorry for the loss of JoAnn Watson. Her passing is indeed a loss for the community, and she made significant contributions as a dedicated public servant in Detroit. Her commitment to advocating for fairness and justice will be remembered.
JoAnn’s impact and influence were felt by many. Her dedication to the betterment of the city and her fearlessness in challenging unjust systems have left a lasting impression. Her legacy serves as an inspiration for others to continue the important work she started.
May JoAnn Watson’s memory be cherished, and may her contributions continue to resonate within the community she served.”
Warren C. Evans, Wayne County Executive
“When you think of those women who were the fighters for freedom and fairness in Detroit the indomitable JoAnn Watson is among them. Her voice will be missed and her firm fierceness will be a force hard to replace”.
Rev. Horace L. Sheffield, III, CEO DABO
“Dr. Watson was the very first public official to endorse me when I first announced that I was running for Wayne County Prosecutor many years ago. She was deeply supportive of women and was a trailblazer way ahead of her time. When she was with you, she was with you. She would not hesitate to ‘Tell you about yourself’ and she always did it with love, sisterhood, and it came directly from her heart. But you knew when you had been schooled. There was no one else like her past, present, and future.”
Prosecutor Kym Worthy
“Maya Angelou made it very clear when describing certain individuals. “When someone shows you who they are believe them the first time!” JoAnn Watson made me a believer the first time I saw her. She was taking care of her siblings and she was outspoken at Macculloch Elementary School in Detroit. She showed me who she was as the president of the Central High School student chapter of the NAACP. She showed me who she was as the editor for the Central Student, our high school newspaper.
She showed us all who she was as the first woman to be appointed as Executive Director of the Detroit Branch NAACP from 1990-1997. Her examples are legendary. Freedom Fighter, Writer, Orator, Organizer, Talk Show Host, Pastor, Wife, Mother, and Grandmother. She had been elevated to the royal position of ‘Queen Mother’ based on her revolutionary, universal recognition as one who un-apologetically speaks Truth to Power. This woman of God even inspired me to go the NAACP way. She has now gone by the way of our Lord. She now rests in Eternal Power.
From the halls of the Detroit City Council to the Divine Council of the Ancestors she will continue to be a supreme example. One of truth, courage, determination and faith for the forward progress of our people.
As an aide and counselor to the Dean—the late Congressman John Conyers, Jr., she helped bring forth H.R. 40. This was the signature bill to provide reparations to repair some of the historic damage and trauma committed against Black people in this nation.
The Detroit Task Force for Reparations is an example of what she lived and worked to help bring into fruition. JoAnn Watson, from the civil rights work of the NAACP to the human rights work of the United Nations, challenged us all to Wake up and Stay up! While we mourn her loss physically, we remain inspired by her life spiritually. Let me be clear for those who really and truly want to remember JoAnn Watson.
If you sincerely wish to do something for JoAnn I encourage you to continue her work. Stay focused on Justice. Speak up for the least of these. Fight for the rights of the people. Take your Souls to the Polls and vote! Re-kindle your belief in God. Know that her life and her legacy were not in vain. There is an old African proverb which says, “Those whom we love die only in the physical sense.
Their Spirit will live on in the will and determination of those whom they leave behind.” May the spirit of our dear Sister, Freedom Fighter and Queen Mother JoAnn Nichols Watson live on within one each of us!”
Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, NAACP
