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, United States. Its population was 45,941 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville United States micropolitan area, micropolitan area ...

, the youngest of fourteen children of a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

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, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, where he became a pupil of

Edward Sapir Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American anthropologist-linguistics, 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 ...

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, p ...

African languages The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated (depending on the delineation of language vs. dialect) at between 1,250 and 2,100, and by some counts at over 3,000. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages (according to SI ...

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 ( – 25 November 1997) was a Malawian politician and statesman who served as the leader of Malawi from 1964 to 1994. He served as Prime Minister from independence in 1964 to 1966, when Malawi was a Dominion/Commonwealth r ...

, a young student from

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate 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 Nyasaland. After ...

(as

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

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 to 1947, Watkins served as professor of anthropology at

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. 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 of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...

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 is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

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 Anthropological linguists Prairie View A&M University alumni University of Chicago alumni People from Huntsville, Texas Linguists of Chewa 20th-century American anthropologists 20th-century American linguists 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics