Detroit 'freedom fighter' JoAnn Watson dies at 72

Longtime Detroit civic and faith leader the Rev. JoAnn Watson died Monday, July 10, 2023. She was 72.

No cause of death was given. Her death was confirmed by Swanson Funeral Homes in Detroit.

Born and raised in Detroit, she devoted her life to public service and to nurturing the faithful. In 2019, Rev. Watson received a Spirit of Detroit award that honored her as "Supreme Mother of Our Beloved Community."

Rev. Watson was the first woman to serve as the executive director of the Detroit NAACP. She served as a Detroit City Council member for 10 years and served until 2013, and as a former delegate to the 2001 United Nations World Conference on Racism, which laid the blueprint for fighting for equality and freedom.

Detroit City Council president Mary Sheffield released a statement saying the city and the nation lost a civil rights icon.

"Mother Watson, as we all so affectionately called her, was a trailblazer, stalwart and one-of-a-kind freedom fighter who loved her people and the Lord," Sheffield said in a statement. "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."

State Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, said she was "shocked and heartbroken to learn that our city and our nation has lost a true public servant and freedom fighter."

"Rev. Dr. Watson was a God-loving force of a woman who made it her life’s work to lift up the voices of those who were so often silenced," Whitsett said in a statement. "She not only loved others fiercely but she fought fearlessly every day for equality and freedom."

Whitsett noted that Rev. Watson served on a committee of six people who helped to ensure the historical and cultural accuracy of Melody, American Girl’s 9-year old African American doll from the Civil Rights Movement.

At the time of her death, Rev. Watson served as board president of Unity Urban Ministerial School, from which she graduated in 2009. She was ordained by Unity Worldwide Ministries in 2010, and since August 2018, was senior pastor at West Side Unity Church in Detroit. She had served as associate pastor at the church since 2009.

She was an on-air personality for 910 AM Superstation and the host of "Wake Up Detroit." She also worked as an associate professor at Wayne County Community College District teaching English.

Rev. Watson had a lengthy resume of working toward reparations initiatives. She was mentored by advocates including activist Imari Obadele; civil rights lawyer the Rev. Milton Henry; Chokwe Lumumba, mayor of Jackson, Mississippi; Ray "Reparations Ray" Jenkins; Claud Anderson, president of Powernomics and the Harvest Institute; and activist Maulana Karenga.

Rev. Watson was a public policy staff director for U.S. Rep. John Conyers from 1997 to 2002, playing a key role in addressing HR 40, the reparations legislation sponsored by Conyers. Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, was the longest-serving African American member of the U.S. House, serving for more than half a century.

She annually organized panelists for the Congressional Black Caucus Reparations "Braintrust" hearing.

In an interview with The Detroit News in January, Rev. Watson said that a shining moment in her life was as a 2001 Delegate to the "United Nations World Conference on Racism" held in Durban, South Africa, which declared that the "Transatlantic Slave Trade was a Crime Against Humanity and should always have been so."

She highlighted in the interview her time serving for a decade on the board of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America and was chair of Detroit's NCOBRA chapter for seven years. In June 2019, the NCOBRA convention, chaired by Rev. Watson, was held at Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, which counted 1,000 attendees who listened to speakers like Conyers and Judge Greg Mathis.

She also was a contributing author to "Should America Pay," a 2003 publication on reparations edited by Raymond Winbush.

Earlier this year, she was appointed by Sheffield to lead the city's first Reparations Task Force "in honor of her life's work and dedication around the issue," Sheffield said.

"When council President Sheffield told me she'd like to appoint me, I told her I'd be honored," Watson told The News in January. "It would be important for the task force to identify objectives rooted in Detroit's history and its future. It's a priority for Detroiters. We know from the overwhelming ballot approval, and they should be the ones to navigate the path forward."

The task force met for the first time in April and is expected to meet on the first Saturday of every month. It's unclear who would replace her.

"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," Sheffield said. "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."

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he and his wife were saddened by her passing.“Throughout her life, she fought for and served the people of Detroit as a fierce community advocate, a City Council member and an ordained minister,” Duggan said.  “Our hearts go out to her family, her congregation at Westside Unity church, and to all who were touched by her decades of service.”

Keith Williams, a fellow Reparations Task Force member, said he hadn't seen Rev. Watson since their second meeting last month at WCCCD.

"She was very attentive, engaged and had big assignments. She had two committees she was gearing up for," Williams told The News. "Detroiters lost a warrior, a person who loved Black people but also everyone who was participating in this city. I'm going to miss her."

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

srahal@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @SarahRahal_