08/12/2026
We stopped by Nile Bookstore in Greensboro, North Carolina on the way home from NC A&T's homecoming visiting my sister Tonia during her freshman year - early 90's. I was about 15. My dad bought the books and some strawberry incense for me.
Another world opened up for me as I read Dr. Duad Malik Watts' books the whole ride home.
I remember taking them to my Sunday School teacher, excited to share what I had discovered:
"Black People in the Land of the Bible" and a few more.
At that age, I knew something was missing for me. It was imagery. I needed to see myself. I needed to understand that we were there, too.
Dr. Watts’ work gave me that.
And then life did what life does.
Almost 25 years later, I met Billi. We became friends before I ever knew who her father was.
Somewhere along the way, I discovered that her dad was that Dr. Daud Malik Watts, the man whose books I had devoured as a 15-year-old girl.
What are the chances?
The work had found me first.
Years later, his daughter did.
There’s something about that kind of full-circle moment that stays with you.
So it is with deep sincerity, gratitude, and love for my friend Bilqis that I share the celebration of life for her father, Dr. Daud Malik Watts, born Robert Leroy Watts.
His work reached people he never knew.
I was one of them.
May his life, scholarship, and legacy continue to awaken something in generations to come.
Celebration of Life
Sunday, August 16, 2026
3:00–5:00 PM
Thurgood Marshall Center
1816 12th Street NW
Washington, DC
