Mary Jane Watkins (dentist) explained

Mary Jane Watkins
Birth Date:27 September 1902
Birth Place:Columbia, Tennessee, U.S.
Death Place:Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
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Allegiance: United States
Unit:Women's Army Corps

Mary Jane Watkins (September 27, 1902 – January 11, 1977) was an American actress and dentist, and one of the first Black women to serve in the Women's Army Corps.

Early life and education

Watkins was born in Columbia, Tennessee, the daughter of John Watkins and Maggie Watkins.[1] [2] As a young woman at Morgan College, she and writer Zora Neale Hurston were school friends;[3] Hurston recalled Watkins as "the most sex-appealing thing, with her lush figure and big eyes and soft skin".[4] [5] After Morgan, Watkins attended Howard University, where she graduated from the School of Dentistry in 1924, the only woman in her class.[6] She also played basketball and tennis at Howard, and was founder and president of the Rho Psi Phi, the first Black medical sorority.[7] [8]

Career

Watkins lived in Pittsburgh after dental school,[9] and in 1926 was secretary of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Howard University alumni association.[10] She coached a girls' basketball team; activist Dorothy Height was one of her players.[11] [12] She was also a local tennis champion.[13] [14]

Watkins moved to New York City in 1927; she lived in Harlem[15] and was active in the YWCA,[16] the Business and Professional Women's Club,[17] and other organizations there.[18] [19] In 1930, she and Zora Neale Hurston were among the guests at a reception for West African businessman Winfried Tete-Ansa, held by the Plainfield Negro History Club in New Jersey.[20]

She joined the Women's Army Corps in 1942, becoming one of the first Black women to serve in that corps.[21] [22] In 1960, she spent a year practicing dentistry in Enugu, Nigeria.[23] She taught at the Guggenheim Clinic in New York in the 1960s, training international students in dentistry.[24] From 1964 to 1966, she was vice-president of the North Harlem Dental Society, and in 1965 she was president of the Association of Women Dentists of New York City.[25] She had a dental practice in New York until she retired in 1972.

Films and stage

Watkins was also an actress as a young woman, appearing in the Oscar Micheaux silent film Deceit (1923), and the Bud Pollard sound film The Black King (1932).[26] [27] She also appeared in a musical comedies, including Ol' Man Satan (1932) at the Forrest Theatre[28] and Ham's Daughter (1932) at the Lafayette Theatre.[29]

Personal life

Watkins was briefly rumored to be a love interest of aviator Hubert Julian.[30] She died in Detroit in 1977, aged 74 years, at the home she shared with her sister, Christina Watkins Bishop.

Notes and References

  1. News: 1977-01-15. Dr. Mary Jane Watkins, a Dentist. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-02-15. 0362-4331.
  2. April 1977. In Memoriam. The Quarterly of the National Dental Association. 35. 42. Internet Archive.
  3. Book: Li, Stephanie. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in American History. 2020-01-16. ABC-CLIO. 978-1-4408-6655-5. 24. en.
  4. Book: Hurston, Zora Neale. Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography. 2019-02-12. McClelland & Stewart. 978-0-7352-5363-6. en.
  5. Book: Plant, Deborah G.. Every Tub Must Sit on Its Own Bottom: The Philosophy and Politics of Zora Neale Hurston. 1995. University of Illinois Press. 978-0-252-02183-1. 151–152. en.
  6. Howard University, The Bison (1924 yearbook).
  7. News: 1927-05-21. Dr. Watkins is Honored by Rho Si Phi. 7. The Pittsburgh Courier. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  8. News: 1926-11-05. Rho Psi Phi Medical Sorority. 1. California Eagle. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  9. News: 1926-08-07. Miss Anderson Hostess. 7. The Pittsburgh Courier. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  10. News: 1926-07-03. Dr. D. G. King Heads Local Chapter of Howard Alumni. 4. The Pittsburgh Courier. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1926-03-06. Beauty to Clash With Beauty When Washington Lassies Meet Rankin Girls' Quintet on Floor. 13. The Pittsburgh Courier. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  12. Book: Height, Dorothy I. (Dorothy Irene). Open wide the freedom gates : a memoir. 2003. New York . PublicAffairs. 978-1-58648-157-5. 17.
  13. News: 1926-08-21. Laura Junior Defeats Dr. Watkins in Singles. 14. The Pittsburgh Courier. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  14. News: 1926-07-24. Tennis Tourney to be Held Here Frog Week. 14. The Pittsburgh Courier. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  15. News: 1932-03-26. The Swanky Sunset-Marlbrooke Defies Depression in Harlem. 5. The Pittsburgh Courier. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  16. News: 1935-06-15. Doris Madison is Hostess to Social Workers. 5. The New York Age. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  17. News: 1929-11-30. Addresses Club. 5. The Pittsburgh Courier. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  18. News: 1930-11-05. African Universal Church to Hold Meeting on Friday. 2. The Miami Herald. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  19. News: 1930-01-11. Mother Zion Church. 5. The New York Age. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  20. News: 1930-06-24. Foreign Banker, Visitor. 1. The Courier-News. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  21. News: 1942-10-16. The WAACs. 255. Daily News. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  22. News: 1942-10-24. Five New York Women Join WAACS. 5. The New York Age. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  23. Major. Gerri. September 14, 1961. Society. Jet. 38.
  24. https://books.google.com/books?id=wcEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=dentist+Watkins+Guggenheim&pg=PA49 "Youthful Pittsburgh Dentist"
  25. News: 1977-01-14. Mary Jane Watkins, Retired Dentist. 21. Detroit Free Press. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  26. Book: Sampson, Henry T.. Blacks in black and white : a source book on Black films. 1995. Metuchen, N.J. . Scarecrow press. 978-0-8108-2605-2. 355.
  27. News: 1932-07-09. Dr. Mary J. Watkins. 6. The New York Age. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  28. News: White. Lucien H.. 1932-10-29. Realm of Music. 7. The New York Age. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.
  29. Book: The Harlem Renaissance : a historical dictionary for the era. 1984. Westport, CT . Greenwood Press. 978-0-313-23232-9. 151.
  30. News: Yates. Ted. 1941-08-29. Lights! Action! Camera!. 8. The Weekly Review. 2022-02-15. Newspapers.com.

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