Black History Month: Honoring McAlester civil rights icon Rev. Wade Watts

Feb. 1—Black History Month kicked off in McAlester this week with a gathering at the Wagner & Lynch law office to honor the civil rights legacy of the Rev. Wade Watts.

Watts, of McAlester, died in 1998 at the age of 79, leaving behind him a life of service which included his championing a number of causes connected to the Civil Rights Movement.

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Watts traveled from McAlester to Selma, Alabama, where he marched in 1965 alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. and other demonstrators, despite a violent crackdown on the marchers by the Selma police.

Along with serving as the head of the Pittsburg County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Watts also served as state president of the NAACP in Oklahoma for 16 years.

He also pastored the Jerusalem Baptist Church in McAlester. The city's Wade Watts Avenue is named for him, with a monument in his honor adjacent to the street.

During the Jan. 29 event at the Wagner & Lynch law office, partners Brecken Wagner and Blake Lynch gave away T-shirts designed in Watts' Honor.

The front of the T-shirt shows upraised fists with the Wagner & Lynch logo proclaiming Black History Month, while the back of the shirt is emblazoned with a quote from Rev. Watts.

"I'd give up silver and gold to have it said and known that I'd helped someone," Watts said. Also emblazoned on the shirt is Watts' signature, followed by "Civil Rights Icon, McAlester, Oklahoma."

Wagner and Lynch said they planned to give the T-shirts away for free to anyone who wanted one. They ran out of the first batch during the event at their office, but plan to order more.

Wagner said he and Lynch try to raise local awareness of different things every year.

"This year we chose Black History Month," he said.

"We wanted to recognize civil rights," Wagner said. "We had to recognize Reverend Watts."

Those attending included three of Watts' children and other family members and friends, along with State NAACP President Bernard Allen-Bey and Pittsburg County NAACP President Dr. Barbara Smitherman.

Allen-Bey told the News-Capital the role of the NAACP has changed through the years.

"We're not protesting lynchings or mob attacks," he said. "Our advocacy is based on unfair policies that adversely affect a group."

He said it is important to never forget the struggles of the past.

"I think it's important we remember the past so we don't have to redo it," Allen-Bey said.

Currently, there are about 30 chapters of the NAACP in Oklahoma, he said.

Those attending the event gathered outside in front of a mural on the side of the Wagner & Lynch building, symbolizing the contributions of former Associate Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Members of Rev. Watts' family attending the event included his daughters, Coluah Watts-Stanfield and Vanessa Watts-Rolan, his son, Maceo Lynn Watts and grandson, Gregory Rolan.

Watts-Standfield held a copy of the front page of Southeast Living, an offshoot of the McAlester News-Capital at the time, showing her father with then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

"I think dad would have been 105 years old," she said, referring to the age Rev. Watts would be if he had lived.

"The struggle is just as evident today as when he died in 1998," Watts-Stanfield said. "It makes me want to cry."

She said too many young people don't understand the struggles of the past. Watts-Stanfield she plans to register people to vote and drive them to the polls for this year's elections.

Smitherman, head of the Pittsburg County Chapter of the NAACP, said the NAACP is about equality, justice and freedom.

"It's not a black organization," she said. "A woman is a minority.

"We need more members," said Smitherman. "It's hard when you don't have boots on the ground.

"We need more people to sign up," she said. "I don't care if you're Black, white or polka-dotted."

McAlester Mayor John Browne also addressed the group.

"If you forget the past, you're bound to repeat it,' Browne said.

He told those present to remember the law can work for them.

"Register to vote," Browne said. "Get others to register to vote."

Anyone interested in joining the local chapter of the NAACP, can find the process on the Pittsburg County NAACP Facebook age, members said. Cost is $30.

"We are the strongest, most organized civil rights organization in the country," Allen-Bey said. "I think it's important everybody understands our mission."