Thomas H. Watkins built a daily Black newspaper in New York City at a time when few believed it could survive and even fewer wanted it to succeed.

Watkins, who died Dec. 19, 2025, at 88, founded the New York Daily Challenge, becoming the first Black owner of a daily newspaper in the city’s history. Based in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the paper delivered sustained coverage of Black political power, economic interests and community life. 

At its height, the Daily Challenge generated nearly $30 million annually and employed dozens of African Americans in journalism, advertising, production and management. Black-owned newspapers nationwide are pointing to that record as evidence that independence in Black media was not symbolic but operational. 

Publishers remembering Watkins described him as a builder rather than a figurehead. He insisted that Black readership carried measurable value and secured national advertising from corporations that had long dismissed Black publications. 

Watkins expanded his influence well beyond one publication. Over decades, he founded and acquired the Afro Times, New American, Jersey City Challenge, Paterson-Passaic Challenge and Newark Challenge. Together, the outlets formed a regional Black press network covering local government, national politics and international affairs. 

In a 2008 interview, Watkins described himself as a capitalist. Ownership, he said, was essential to Black advancement. Newspapers were economic engines as well as civic institutions, and advertising dollars spent in Black communities should remain there. 

Former colleagues said Watkins did not shy away from confrontation. The Daily Challenge reported on police misconduct, housing inequity, political boycotts and global liberation struggles at times when such coverage carried professional and personal risk. 

Watkins also served as president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association and remained on its board for decades. His leadership helped strengthen cooperation among Black-owned newspapers while preserving editorial independence. 

Beyond publishing, Watkins spoke at historically Black colleges and national organizations, delivering a consistent message about economic control and narrative authority. He spent his later years in Brooklyn, continuing to advocate for financial empowerment and media ownership. 

“Publisher Thomas Watkins was an icon in the evolution of the Black press of America,” Benjamin Chavis Jr., president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, told member newspapers. “Our responsibility today is to keep the legacy of Thomas Watkins alive and impactful.”