Mark Hanna Watkins (November 23, 1903 – February 24, 1976) was an Afro-American linguist and anthropologist. He was born in

Huntsville, Texas Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas. The population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home to ...

, the youngest of fourteen children of a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

minister. He obtained a Bachelor of Science from Prairie View State College in 1926, remaining there for a further two years as assistant registrar.Wade-Lewis (2005). In 1929, he enrolled at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he became a pupil of

Edward Sapir Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States. Sa ...

and wrote a Master's thesis entitled ''Terms of Relationship in Aboriginal Mexico'' (1930), dealing with seven genetically unrelated language groups: Otomian, Tarascan, Aztecan, Mixtecan, Zapotecan, Mixean, and Mayan.Spears (2018). Turning from

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

African languages The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern A ...

for his Ph.D. thesis, between 1930 and 1932 he wrote ''A Grammar of Chichewa: A Bantu Language of British Central Africa'', in cooperation with

Kamuzu Banda Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1898 – 25 November 1997) was the Prime Minister of Malawi, prime minister and later President of Malawi, president of Malawi from 1964 to 1994 (from 1964 to 1966, Malawi was an independent Dominion / Commonwealth realm) ...

, a young student from

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasala ...

(as

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

was then known), who in 1966 was to become the first President of the Republic of Malawi. This grammar was the first grammar of an African language to be written by an American.Wade-Lewis (2004), p. 149. On completing his thesis Watkins became the first African American to receive the Ph.D. degree in anthropology.Wright, 1976 From 1934–47 Watkins served as professor of anthropology at

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. In 1943, the first

African Studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's history (pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial), demography ...

program in the United States was founded at Fisk, and Watkins was one of its six faculty members. In 1944 he returned temporarily to Chicago and in 1945–47 he worked in Mexico and Guatemala. From 1947 to his retirement in 1972 Watkins was professor of anthropology at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

in Washington, D.C., where he worked particularly on African languages and on promoting exchange programs between students in Africa and America. Shortly before his death, he dictated to his wife the final revision of "Setswana Phonemics: Sefokeng Dialect", which appeared posthumously in 1978.

References

Bibliography

* Spears, Arthur K. (2018)
"This Month in Linguistics History: Tribute to Mark Hanna Watkins"
''Linguistics Society of America''. *Wade-Lewis, Margaret (2004)
"Bridge Over Many Waters: Mark Hanna Watkins, Linguistic Anthropologist"
''Dialectical Anthropology'', Vol. 28, No. 2 (2004), pp. 147–202 * Wade-Lewis, Margaret (2005)

''Histories of Anthropology Annual'', vol 1, pp. 181–218. * Watkins, Mark Hanna (1937)
"A Grammar of Chichewa: A Bantu Language of British Central Africa"
''Language'', Vol. 13, No. 2, Language Dissertation No. 24 (Apr.-Jun., 1937), pp. 5–158. * Watkins, Mark Hanna (1943)
"The West African "Bush" School"
''American Journal of Sociology'', vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 666–75. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Mark Hanna 1903 births 1976 deaths African-American academics Anthropological linguists Prairie View A&M University alumni University of Chicago alumni People from Huntsville, Texas Linguists of Chewa Linguists from the United States 20th-century American anthropologists 20th-century linguists 20th-century African-American people