On what would have been the 75th anniversary of her birth, Rev. JoAnn Watson was honored posthumously by the City of Detroit on Friday, April 17, 2026. Rev. JoAnn, affectionately called Detroit’s “Queen Mother,” was a noted civil rights activist in Michigan and throughout the United States. The honor included a street renamed “Rev. JoAnn Watson Street” near the intersection of Linwood and Tuxedo. Rev. JoAnn was a 2010 graduate of UUMS and President of the Unity Urban Ministerial Board at the time of her passing in July 2023. She was a legendary political leader with inter-generational reach and impact. Her career spanned several decades, including serving on the Detroit City Council and the United Nations. She was the first woman director of the Detroit NAACP, pastor of West Side Unity (founded by her mentor, Rev. Dr. Ruth Mosley), and a lifelong advocate of reparations to descendants of slaves. She also served as a public liaison for the late former Congressman John Conyers Jr. the voice of Detroit through her TV and radio broadcast, “Wake Up Detroit!”