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Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
Every oral history relies on the memories, views, and opinions of the narrator. Because of the personal nature of oral history, listeners may find some viewpoints or language of the recorded participants to be objectionable. In keeping with its mission of preservation and unfettered access whenever possible, BHS presents these views as recorded.
The audio recording should be considered the primary source for each interview. Where provided, transcripts created prior to 2008 or commissioned by a third party other than BHS, serve as a guide to the interview and are not considered verbatim. More recent transcripts commissioned by BHS are nearly verbatim copies of the recorded interview, and as such may contain the natural false starts, verbal stumbles, misspeaks, and repetitions that are common in conversation. The decision for their inclusion was made because BHS gives primacy to the audible voice and also because some researchers do find useful information in these verbal patterns. Unless these verbal patterns are germane to your scholarly work, when quoting from this material researchers are encouraged to correct the grammar and make other modifications maintaining the flavor of the narrator’s speech while editing the material for the standards of print.
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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
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Thomas Watkins
Oral history interview conducted by Sady Sullivan
January 29, 2008
Call number: 2008.030.51
0:23 - Watkins' connection to the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (BSRC)
4:11 - Launching Black daily newspaper, The Daily Challenge; BSRC; school; Black social mobility
19:54 - Founding a newspaper, its political role; early power struggle for control of BSRC
34:06 - Effects of RFK's assassination; early expectations for investment in BSRC; 1st Amendment
50:33 - Bed-Stuy in 2008: population surge & ineffective local gov't, welfare programs, education
73:30 - BSRC as under-funded & fiscally cautious; failed plans for a baseball stadium
86:06 - Poverty in the South, need for reconstruction & renewal; the nation's racist past
96:53 - Interview's conclusion
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Thomas H. Watkins
Thomas H. Watkins was born in 1927, in the New York metropolitan area, and moved with his family to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn when Watkins was two years old. Watkins came from a politically interested family; his grandfather, the attorney Glen Jones, argued before Congress for federal protections for Black Americans from lynching. Watkins' career began at The New York Amsterdam News, the city's oldest Black newspaper. In 1952, Watkins founded his first weekly newspaper, the Afro Times. In 1972, Watkins founded his flagship paper, the New York Daily Challenge, a daily newspaper distributed city-wide, which was also New York City's first and only Black daily newspaper. The publication's corporate offices stood in Restoration Plaza, home of Restoration. An unabashed capitalist, Watkins founded the Daily Challenge as a way to route Black New Yorkers' newspaper monies into a paper owned by, written by, and catering to other Black New Yorkers.
Thomas H. Watkins, founder, owner, and publisher of the New York Daily Challenge, begins this interview with a short history of each of his three newspapers. He shares his views on the value of entrepreneurship for Black residents of Brooklyn, including the power to uplift from poverty. He remembers the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn of his youth, noting the relationship between churches, education, and social mobility. Watkins discusses Bedford-Stuyvesant's history of community activism, and shares historical details from the actions of the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council, the founding of Restoration, and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. He expounds upon the importance of First Amendment rights and press freedoms, and the relationship between marketing and the media. He shares his disdain for both public and parochial school systems, citing racism as one of its endemic problems. In conclusion, Watkins shares his prognosis of Restoration's legacy and his hopes for its future. Interview conducted by Sady Sullivan.
Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration) partnered on the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation oral history project in 2007-2008 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Restoration's founding as the first community development corporation (CDC) in the United States. Nearly sixty interviews were conducted with founding Board members, supporters, activists, artists, tenants, and other community members. Audio clips from these oral history interviews were included in the exhibit "Reflections on Community Development: Stories from Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation" (BHS 2008, Restoration 2009).
Citation
Watkins, Thomas, Oral history interview conducted by Sady Sullivan, January 29, 2008, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation oral histories, 2008.030.51; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
- Daily Challenge, Inc.
- Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968
- Richardson, Elsie, 1922-2012
- Watkins, Thomas H., 1927-
Topics
- African Americans
- Business enterprises
- Civil rights movements
- Economic development
- Entrepreneurship
- Newspaper publishing
- Schools
Places
- Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Finding Aid
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation oral histories