Thomas H. Watkins, a pioneering Black newspaper publisher who founded New York City’s first Black-owned daily newspaper and spent more than five decades advocating for Black economic power through independent media ownership, has died. He was 88.
Funeral arrangements for Thomas H. Watkins Jr. have been announced. Public viewings will be held on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m., and on Thursday, January 15, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., followed by a Wake Service from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., at Lawrence H. Woodward Funeral Home, 1 Troy Avenue in Brooklyn. A Funeral Service will take place Friday, January 16, from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m., also at the funeral home. Burial will follow on Friday afternoon from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. at Beechwoods Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York. A Repast is scheduled for Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Comus Club in Brooklyn.
Watkins, the founder, chief executive officer and publisher of the New York Daily Challenge, died in December 2025 following health challenges, according to family members and colleagues. Born in 1937 and raised in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, Watkins emerged as one of the most consequential figures in modern Black Press history, building a publishing operation at a scale few believed possible for a Black-owned newspaper.
Founded in 1972, the New York Daily Challenge became the city’s first Black daily newspaper, offering sustained coverage of Black political life, community organizing and global Black affairs from offices in central Brooklyn. At the height of its operations, the newspaper generated nearly $30 million annually and employed dozens of African Americans across journalism, advertising, production and management—an economic footprint that distinguished it from most Black-owned publications of its time.
From its earliest years, the Daily Challenge defied assumptions often placed on Black media. While maintaining a clear focus on Black communities, the paper attracted national advertising support and built a broad readership. Over time, it became known for covering stories frequently overlooked or minimized by mainstream outlets, including police misconduct, housing inequities, political boycotts, electoral campaigns and international liberation struggles affecting people of African descent.
Watkins’ work was deeply shaped by family legacy. His grandfather advocated before Congress for federal protections against lynching, and his father played a significant role in expanding the circulation of the New York Amsterdam News, the nation’s oldest and first fully unionized Black newspaper. Building on that foundation, Watkins frequently emphasized that ownership—not merely participation—was essential to Black political and economic advancement.
Over the decades, Watkins expanded beyond a single newspaper, founding and acquiring a network of Black-owned publications across the Northeast. These included the Afro Times, New American, Jersey City Challenge, Patterson-Passaic Challenge, and Newark Challenge. Together, the papers formed a regional Black Press infrastructure that reported consistently on local government, national politics, culture and international affairs from a Black perspective.
In addition to his publishing career, Watkins held national leadership roles within the Black Press. From 1989 to 1992, he served as president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association and remained active in the organization for decades afterward. Colleagues frequently credited him with strengthening collaboration among Black-owned newspapers while insisting on editorial independence and financial accountability.
Watkins was also a sought-after speaker and advocate for Black economic empowerment. He delivered keynote addresses for nonprofit organizations and spoke at historically Black colleges and universities, including Bethune-Cookman University and Johnson C. Smith University. A self-described capitalist, Watkins argued that Black newspapers were not only civic institutions but economic engines capable of employing Black workers and retaining advertising dollars within Black communities.
Tributes following his death came from journalists, clergy, activists and publishers across the country, many of whom described Watkins as fearless, uncompromising and deeply committed to telling Black stories without apology. Leaders within the Black Press credited him with demonstrating that large-scale Black media ownership was not symbolic, but operational—and sustainable.
Watkins remained based in Brooklyn throughout his life and continued to advocate for Black financial empowerment and media ownership into his later years. Though the Daily Challenge eventually transitioned from a daily to a weekly publication, his influence endured through generations of reporters, editors, photographers and publishers he supported and mentored.
He is survived by his brother, Kevin Thomas Watkins; his children, Kerri Watkins and Thomas H. Watkins III; eight grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews.
For the Black Press, Thomas H. Watkins leaves behind a legacy measured not only in headlines and circulation figures, but in the enduring assertion that Black communities must control their own narratives—and the institutions that tell them.
