Hollis Watkins, a civil rights leader from Mississippi, died on September 20, 2023 at the age of 82 after a lifelong dedication to the pursuit of civil rights and economic justice and decades of service to actions and organizations related to those causes. Along with his many organizing and leadership roles and acts of civil disobedience, including co-founding and serving as the president of Southern Echo, Watkins was also a supporter of and collaborator with Community Change.

Born in Lincoln County, Mississippi, where his parents both worked as sharecroppers, Watkins was the twelfth child in his family. At age 19, he was the first Mississippi student to join the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as a voting rights organizer. Through his work with SNCC, Watkins was first jailed in 1961 for sitting at a Woolworth’s lunch counter. He was later jailed for protesting the expulsion of a student from his former high school because she had tried to buy a train ticket on the “whites only” side of the train platform. And he was jailed a third time for trying to register Black voters. Those incidents were the first of many confrontations with the law that Watkins would experience in his fight for civil rights for Black citizens in Mississippi — encounters which would often result in him spending a month or more in jail.

In an interview with Don Fass in 2012, Watkins said he was never afraid to be jailed or even to die for his work to advance civil rights in Mississippi. In his view, Black people were killed all the time for no reason at all, so he understood he might die as a result of his efforts to register Black voters, support more Black people in running for office, or push back against gerrymandering. Watkins was not afraid to lose his life fighting for justice and democracy because he knew too well that he could lose his life to racism regardless.

Not only was Watkins fearless, but he was joyful in his organizing work. Those who knew him best remember the way he used music and singing as a way to organize, connect, and unite people to fight for freedom and civil rights. Watkins understood the power of music to move people and he felt the best way to bring people together was to channel the power of the religious and spiritual songs from the Black churches in Mississippi.

LaDon Love, currently the founding Executive Director of SPACEs In Action, remembers when she worked for Community Change and participated in an organizing meeting alongside Watkins, who was in his 70s at the time, and the groups My Mississippi Eyes and Alternative Routes. She says the meeting was focused on youth organizing, and one team-building exercise involved a singing and dance competition.

“Hollis was right in there with the young people. And all of the songs, he knew the words and he was dancing,” Love says. “And I just remember everybody being so excited. But then I was like, ‘Look at him!’ You know, even in that moment, I was like, ‘I hope I’m like that when I am a more seasoned adult.’”

Love met Hollis in the early 2000s through her organizing work with Community Change. Love, who is from New York, credits Watkins with opening the doors for her in the South and in Mississippi specifically.

“He just always had great energy and a great spirit. And he was a connector of people. He was a deep listener, he was a great thought partner,” Love says. “I really attribute my understanding of how relationships work in Mississippi and how I should think about really doing deep listening when I’m talking to folks from my engaging with him.”

According to Drew Astolfi, the director of field support at Community Change, Watkins was also instrumental in helping Community Change organize in Mississippi and throughout the South. As he had done with Love, Watkins helped to open doors and facilitate important connections. His work as a connector and bridge builder was especially critical in helping to make the necessary introductions that led to the People’s Agenda Action in 2004, which launched Community Change’s organizing around electoral issues.

For Love, Watkins modeled the importance of building relationships through slowing down and taking the time to really listen to others’ experiences deeply, and to ensure that her organizing work incorporates the language people use so that they can see themselves reflected in the work. Watkins was a deep believer in organizing being specific to a time, place, and context, and it was always his goal to engage as many people as possible from within the community where the change needed to happen.

“Hollis would say, ‘Don’t feel discouraged because one person told you that they don’t like what you said, or they don’t like what you’re doing. You need to be clear about what it is YOU want to achieve,” Love says. “So, these are the words that ring in my head when I feel stuck, or when I doubt myself, because of the opportunities that I had to just sit and listen to him think aloud.”

Above all, Love says, Watkins was a man of his word. If he offered support or said he would do something, he was always there. And if he didn’t like something, he’d speak up.

“But if he felt strongly about something, he’d want to be in conversation to create,” Love says. “And I can’t think of anything that he and I talked about, that he said he was going to do, that he didn’t do.”

Love presented Watkins with the Community Change Champion Award in 2006 to recognize his tremendous contributions as a Civil Rights leader and as an organizer and partner to Community Change. 

As Watkins often used to sing:

Get on board, children, children.

Get on board, children, children.

Get on board, children, children.

Let’s fight for human rights.