History Is Lunch: Hezekiah Watkins, "Pushing Forward: Mississippi’s Youngest Freedom Rider"

On May 29, 2019, Andrea Ledwell and Hezekiah Watkins presented "Pushing Forward: The Story of Mississippi’s Youngest Freedom Rider" as part of the History Is Lunch series.

In July of 1961, Watkins was arrested at the Greyhound Bus Station in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age of 13. He was sent in a paddy wagon to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman and placed on Death Row. His crime was allegedly participating in the Freedom Rides with a group who had embarked on a journey from Washington D.C. to New Orleans to push for equal rights for African Americans, while also desegregating bus terminals throughout the south.

“I spent five days at Parchman, and it forever changed my life,” Watkins said. “My continued involvement in the fight for equality resulted in my being arrested more than 100 times.”

Pushing Forward, co-authored with Ledwell, tells the story of a young man who became a grown-up overnight, and whose life continues to focus on serving a greater cause. Watkins was recognized by the 112th Congress of the United States for his service to Mississippi and to mankind.

Hezekiah Watkins was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but has lived in Jackson, Mississippi, nearly all his life. A graduate of the city’s Lanier High School, Watkins went on to attend Utica Junior College, the University of Southern Illinois, and East Tennessee State University. A Vietnam veteran, Watkins worked at the Jackson Hinds Comprehensive Health Center and was owner of the Corner Food Market and Deli in Jackson. Watkins works at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

History Is Lunch is a weekly lecture series of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History that explores different aspects of the state's past. The hour-long programs are held in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum building in Jackson. MDAH livestreams videos of the program at noon on Wednesdays on their Facebook page,   / mdahofficial  .