Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn-raised Thomas Henry Watkins founder, owner, and publisher of the New York Daily Challenge, passed away on Friday, December 19, 2025.
“I am sad to hear of the passing of a legitimately acclaimed Black giant in the person of Tom Watkins,” the Rev. Al. Sharpton Jr. told Our Time Press.
Dr. Ben Chavis, President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and long-time friend, associate and colleague of Mr. Watkins, told Our Time Press, “Thomas Watkins was an icon in the evolution of the Black press of America. He was the former chairman of the NNPA and was an outspoken leader who cherished the value of truth-telling for freedom, justice, and equality. Our responsibility today is to keep the legacy of Thomas Watkins alive and impactful.”
Succumbing to health challenges, Tommy Watkins, a key figure in the Brooklyn community for decades, was the smooth, charismatic, cowboy hat-wearing, community-centered businessman, that many around the state can point to receiving his helping hand – both in political advancement, education and sports, small business and community achievement.
Legendary broadcaster Imhotep Gary Byrd Press told Our Time, “I offer my heartfelt condolences to Tom Watkins’ family and extended family, and I am grateful to him for answering and accepting his calling as a dedicated warrior in the realm of the Black Press.
“The Daily Challenge was the perfect complement to my daily radio broadcast, ‘The Global Black Experience’ on WLIB, and ‘Live from the World-Famous Apollo Theatre.’
“It was an invaluable service to the community, which gave us a critical media foundation and presence in an often hostile media environment. Tom was a true friend, and a Beautiful Brother–who we acknowledge as a ‘GBE’– a true ‘Giant of the Black Experience.’ May he rest in peace and power.”
With the upliftment of, and constant positive communication with, the Black community, Watkins created the city’s only Black daily – aptly named Daily Challenge in 1972 in the massive offices above the Restoration Plaza post office.
Full disclosure, this reporter began her journalistic career in New York at the paper and saw firsthand his genuine commitment to the community in which he was raised.
A property-owner, and well-connected businessman with a deep-rooted allegiance to the community in which he grew, whose family-owned houses, horses, and liquor stores, Watkins, a one-time boxer, was the Renaissance man of this time and space, and maintained community-growth his raison d’etre.
With what at least one admirer describing his “matinee idol good looks,” seen around town, striding with confidence and purpose with his signature cowboy hat, boots, and ponytail, Chavis continued that Watkins had a “full baritone voice that always resonated with a consciousness on behalf of Black America.”
Sharpton added, “I have known Tom Watkins and his father all my life. I remember — when I was growing up as a boy preacher in Bed Stuy–the New York Recorder, which his father published, and then Tom took over. People aspired to be on their most influential list every year. They were the ones [reporting] every year,” said Sharpton.
He continued “When I was 12 years old and joined Operation Breadbasket–the arm of Dr. King’s organization in New York, led by the Rev. William Jones, and Rev. Jesse Jackson, I was the youth director. The only paper that we had, then, was the Daily Challenge and the New York Recorder, which pushed where the Amsterdam News and others would follow suit.”
“Tom was fearless. If we were boycotting someone, he would cover it every day in the Daily Challenge. If we were dealing with a police issue, he was there. If we were dealing with a political campaign, he was there. He had the integrity that, in my opinion, was unparalleled by anyone, and he was committed to the cause. He never wanted to bend, buckle, or bow.”
Sharpton continued, “I am indebted to them because they invested in me with coverage and encouragement before anyone saw any possibilities of me doing anything that would be worthy of their support. So, I join people all over the diaspora in mourning a true giant, a person that stood up for us, and told our stories, way before you got big ad dollars to get it. Tom Watkins Jr., may he rest in peace.”
Former Daily Challenge columnist the right Reverend Herbert Daughtry told Our Time Press, “I go back with Tom’s father, Senior, who used to attend Operation Bread Basket, chaired by Rev. William Jones, Rev Sharpton was the Youth Leader, I was the Executive Vice Chair. The intention was to make corporate America respond to the Black community.
“The old man raised his son in the right way. He was a different kind of publisher and newspaperman. He was very active in the community. He attended private organizing meetings. I feel deeply indebted to him because he gave me an opportunity to write weekly articles in the Daily Challenge and the Afro Times, and improve my feeble writing skills. I hold him responsible because I have now written over 20 books. In every one, I felt his influence.”
New York Black media in the 1990s and early 2000s followed a particular strategic playbook. Daughtry stated that, “The Daily Challenge followed the example of Percy Sutton in media, as we, in the Black community who were activists, had a media outlet– Percy Sutton with WLIB, and Tommy Watkins with the Daily Challenge. We had a daily feed of information. Not only was he concerned with local affairs, but he was also very active in the national media trying to bring his organizing skills to that arena.”