John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy between partners, practitioners, other interested parties in specific policy areas. Through these efforts. Initial support for The Watson Institute came from the college's operating funds, with further funds from major foundations and corporations. John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy The John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy is an American non-partisan research institute on public policy located at Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey. The Institute is named after New Jersey Assemblyman John S. Watson, the first African American to serve as the state's Chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Thomas Edison State College established the institute
James S. Watson James S. Watson James Samuel Watson (1882–1952) was one of the first two Black Americans elected as a judge in the state of New York. James S. Watson was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica on May 29, 1882. His father, James Michael Watson, was a Sergeant in the Jamaica Constabulary Force and would later work for the Jamaica Government Railway as a conductor and platform foreman. His mother's name was Elizabeth Jones Watson. After attending elementary school in Spanish Town, James S. Watson worked as a bookkeeper, cashier, and then chief clerk at a hotel in Constant Spring, Jamaica. In