Essence magazine is a lifestyle magazine for African-American women. It is a groundbreaking publication with a turbulent history.

Entrepreneurs Edward Lewis, Clarence O. Smith, Cecil Hollingsworth and Jonathan Blount founded the Hollingsworth Group with the purpose of publishing the first general interest magazine aimed at African-American women. Essence magazine was first published in May 1970.

The first issue of the monthly women’s magazine appeared in 1970 and featured a cover photo of a female model with her hair styled in an Afro with the tagline "to delight and to celebrate the beauty, pride, strength, and uniqueness of all Black women." For the first three years of Essence’s publication groundbreaking photographer, film-maker and author Gordon Parks served as the editorial director.

Within four years Hollingsworth, Blount, and Parks left the enterprise, which was renamed Essence Communications. Edward Lewis remained as chairman and publisher and Clarence Smith as president. The departed founders sued in 1977 and after a three-year-long battle that nearly bankrupted the company, the suit ended after an investor bought Hollingsworth out.

Editorially, the fledgling magazine was also a mess. The first year proved to be the worst with a succession of three editors-in-chief coming and going. By the second year in 1971, however, Marcia Ann Gillespie began a nine-year tenure as editor-in-chief and Essence Magazine grabbed hold of its editorial voice, which included covering all women’s topics like fashion, beauty, food, health, children and more with a definitive African-American perspective. Its circulation began at approximately 50,000 copies per month and subsequently grew to about 1.1 million.

Essence Magazine also delved into controversial topics such as politics, the criminal justice system, religion and sex, gaining a reputation for not shying away from any topic. The magazine also featured original fiction by African-American writers like Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and others. Susan L. Taylor, who joined the magazine in its first year as a freelance beauty editor and later served as fashion editor focused on creating page layouts with a point of using models who had distinctively African features.

By 1975 the magazine began to turn a profit and in 1981, Taylor became editor-in-chief, a role she would hold until 2000 when she moved to publications director. Still, the magazine struggled to acquire advertising throughout the 1980s. Many companies and advertisers balked at the magazine’s insistence on using African-American models.

In 1993 beauty products company Estee Lauder began advertising in the magazine and in 1994 a subsidiary, Essence Television Productions, Inc. started producing an annual primetime-network special hosted by Taylor called the Essence Awards, to honor the achievements of African-Americans.

In 1995 Essence celebrated its 25th anniversary with a 300-page May issue featuring Oprah Winfrey on the cover. The company ended its anniversary party in New Orleans with a three-day music festival featuring appearances by Bill Cosby, Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross and many more. More than 150,000 people attended the event and helped boost the tourist industry of New Orleans. Starting in 1998 the music festival became an annual event. In 2006 the festival temporarily moved to Houston following Hurricane Katrina but by 2008 was again held in New Orleans; Essence magazine has committed to support and rebuild the city of New Orleans.