[4][5] After Morgan, Watkins attended Howard University, where she graduated from the School of Dentistry in 1924, the only woman in her class.

[6] She also played basketball and tennis at Howard, and was founder and president of the Rho Psi Phi, the first Black medical sorority.

[13][14] Watkins moved to New York City in 1927;[7] she lived in Harlem[15] and was active in the YWCA,[16] the Business and Professional Women's Club,[17] and other organizations there.

[18][19] In 1930, she and Zora Neale Hurston were among the guests at a reception for West African businessman Winfried Tete-Ansa, held by the Plainfield Negro History Club in New Jersey.

[24] From 1964 to 1966, she was vice-president of the North Harlem Dental Society, and in 1965 she was president of the Association of Women Dentists of New York City.