a higher call

PRESS RELEASE
A HIGHER CALL

In every life there comes a time when we hear the call to a greater purpose; NAYO BARBARA MALCOLM WATKINS answered her call January 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm. A phenomenal woman, devoted mother, and cultural arts activist are just a few of the accolades of NAYO. She was to everyone that knew her so much more.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, she fondly referred to herself as a "Grady baby." She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. Several years later she and her children moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she became intrigued by the movement of civil rights activists, having been raised in the south and migrating north. She enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh in a new African American Studies program where she implemented the Community Action Program. It was the 60²s and Barbara¹s rebirth as NAYO had begun. With a move to New Orleans in 1968 she approached the turmoil of that era with what became her signature response: life is an expression of Art. NAYO was catapulted into a life of implementing social change through the use of cultural arts. She also accepted Islam as a way of life and with a move to Jackson Mississippi again she found a new task, a greater purpose and realized that by answering the call to serve her people and the universe, her life was no longer her own.

Her work for the next 3 decades established her as author, playright, writer, fundraiser, community activist, social revolutionary, more than anything she in-acted change. People could not be introduced to NAYO and not be struck with a need to do some personal inventory. She published her first work in 1968 entitled I want me a Home. Moving to Jackson Mississippi she was an intrinsic mover and shaker of the Mississippi Cultural Arts Coalition. She served for a period as Directress of Clara Muhammad University in Jackson, Mississippi where her love for children and her passion for education merged to become her mission. After a brief stop at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, where she studied and taught African-American studies, she continued her mission with At The Foot of the Mountain in Minneapolis, Minnesota as the Executive Director. Her network
expands to the Highlander Center, the Hayti Center, Alternate Roots and Southern Regional Development Institute, SpiritHouse NC, among just a few. Her life¹s work allowed her travel to the Motherland to Kenya, Africa and to Central America to Nicaragua. But her most special travels were trips taken with her grandchildren.

Her life's journey would reach a climactic purpose with the death of her youngest son, Nyamekye Akil Malcolm. NAYO's healing from one death gave birth to a new mission that immediately drove her into her destiny as founder of the Mekye Fund and the eventual establishment of the Mekye Center where she served as Executive Director. Still for those of us who call her mother, grandmother, Mama Nayo, sister, aunt, wife, friend, and co-laborer in the movement she was so, so much more. On January 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm NAYO answered purpose of a Higher Call. For those who love her, respect her, supported her, believed in her, and called her Mama NAYO, she now belongs to the ancestors whom have gone before her. More information on Nayo Watkins can be found on the World Wide Web.

In her transition to the next phase of her journey she leaves to celebrate her life those who call her Mama: Donna "Dara" Hubbard of Atlanta, GA; Denise "Dee" Thompson Hogan, wife of Sidney Thompson Hogan of Potomac, Maryland; James "Sanjulu" Brown, husband of Stephanie Brown of Raleigh, NC; Kimberly "Kai Kai" Brown of Jackson, MS; Stacy "Fumi" Brown of Durham, NC; John "YaYah" Watkins, husband of Desiree Watkins of Greensboro, NC; Hollis "Hadi" Watkins, Jr., husband of Asha Watkins of Raleigh, NC; and Nyamekye Akil Malcolm (transitioned). Her life is celebrated by her sisters Ann Juanita Roberts of Washington D.C. and Elizabeth Goolsby of Silver Spring, Maryland. Among her loved ones are her companions through life's journey Charlie Hubbard, James Woodrow Brown, and Hollis Watkins, Sr. Her spirit lives on in her grandchildren, great grandchildren, great, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and in her spiritual daughters and sons.

The viewing will take place Friday evening at 7pm at Burthey Funeral Services 1510 Fayetteville St. Durham, North Carolina, (919) 682-0327, and her life will be remembered Saturday January 26, 2008 at 3pm, at Burthey. A Home-going Celebration with food and offerings of artistic expressions will take place at Goodson Chapel in Duke University's Divinity School, Durham, NC at 5pm. The Nayo Barbara Malcolm Watkins Memorial Fund has been established to support the home-going celebration and her continued work, at the Triangle Community Foundation of Durham. Donations in lieu of flowers are being accepted at www.trianglecf.org.