Barbara M. Watson


Barbara Mae Watson was a United States diplomat who was the first black and the first woman to serve as an Assistant Secretary of State.

Early life and education

Watson was born in New York City, the daughter of James S. Watson and his wife, Violet Lopez Watson. Her parents were born in Jamaica; her father was the first black judge elected in New York State, and her mother was one of the founders of the National Council of Negro Women. Barbara M. Watson was the sister of judge James Lopez Watson. Her cousins included J. Bruce Llewellyn and of Colin Powell.
Watson attended Barnard College, completing a bachelor's degree in 1943. While at Barnard, she was the first black woman to participate in the school's Greek Games. She attended New York Law School and earned her law degree in 1962.

Career

Early jobs

After college, Watson took a job as an interviewer for the United Seamen's Service. In 1946, she founded a modeling agency, Barbara Watson Models, serving as the agency's executive director until 1956. From 1958 to 1959, she worked as Student Activities coordinator at Hampton Institute. She spent 1963-64 working as an assistant attorney in the New York City Law Department, then spent 1964-66 as executive director of the New York City Commission to the United Nations.

State Department under Johnson and Nixon

Watson joined the United States Department of State in 1966, as a special assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration. She then became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Security and Consular Affairs and served as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Security and Consular Affairs from 1966 to 1968. In July 1968, President Lyndon Johnson nominated Watson as Assistant Secretary of State for Security and Consular Affairs and, after Senate confirmation, she held this office from August 12, 1968 until December 31, 1974. She was the first black Assistant Secretary of State, and the first woman to serve as Assistant Secretary of State. In 1974 she received the Luther I. Replogle Award for Management Improvement. She also chaired a consular conference in Mexico City in 1974.
Upon leaving government service in 1975, Watson took a job with Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications as a legal consultant. She also lectured at several colleges and universities.

Carter Administration

In January 1977, President Jimmy Carter asked Watson to return to the State Department as Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs; her second stint in this office lasted from April 13, 1977 until August 17, 1980. President Carter later appointed Watson United States Ambassador to Malaysia; she presented her credentials on September 25, 1980 and held this post until March 1, 1981.
Watson was a Democrat.

Personal life and legacy

Watson died at a hospital in Washington, D.C. on February 18, 1983, aged 64 years. Her papers are in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, at the New York Public Library. In 1994, the Consular Officer of the Year Award was renamed the Barbara M. Watson Award for Consular Excellence, in her memory.