work of new and established authors, particularly
black women.
As of 2004, Essence’s seven editors in chief have
been black women: Ruth Ross (who came up with
the name), Daryl Alexander, Monique Greenwood,
Diane Weathers, Ida Lewis, Marcia Gillespie, and
Susan Taylor. The last three are probably the most
recognized in the industry and by the readership.
Ida Lewis, a pioneer black woman reporter with
The Washington Post, Meet the Press, and L’Express
in Paris, founded, published, and edited Encore
American and Worldwide News. Marcia Gillespie’s
10-year leadership put the magazine on the map,
building circulation up to near a half million, ad-
vocating for social justice, and articulating a femi-
nist vision rooted in black women’s experience.
She later became editor in chief of Ms.
Susan Taylor was the iconic Essence woman,
having an uncanny knack for connecting across
gender and class lines. Most significantly, she spe-
cifically fostered black writers and writing. She
organized writers’ conferences, facilitated staff
editors’ execution of book contracts, and saw that
Essence regularly featured high-caliber fiction,
nonfiction, and poetry by and about black people.
The list of writers who either developed their
craft with Essence or were recognized and pro-
moted in its pages includes literary icons TONI
MORRISON, ALICE WALKER, TONI CADE BAMBARA,
NIKKI GIOVANNI, JOHN EDGAR WIDEMAN, JUNE JOR-
DAN, ALEXIS DEVEAUX, and EDWIDGE DANTICAT.
Other authors who published in Essence as they
built noteworthy careers include BEBE MOORE
CAMPBELL, JILL NELSON, Benildy Little, Harriette
Cole, Jessica Harris, Pulitzer Prize winners Isabel
Wilkerson and EDWARD P. JONES, NELSON GEORGE,
TERRY MCMILLAN, Doris Jean Austin, ARTHUR
FLOWERS, Valerie Wilson Wesley, Rosemarie Robo-
tham, and many more.
“Essence was founded by... Clarence O. Smith,
Jonathan Blount, Cecil Hollingsworth and my-
self, four brash young men with no experience in
magazine publishing,” wrote Essence publisher and
chief executive officer Edward Lewis (“In Celebra-
tion”). Smith and Lewis stayed the course, guid-
ing Essence Communications for 30 years through
diversification into television, book publishing,
branded merchandising, and Latina, a magazine
for Hispanic women. In October 2000, they made
a deal creating Essence Communications Partners,
allowing Time Warner to acquire 49 percent of the
company. This signaled the end of the founding
era, when Essence’s sensibility sprang from the pre-
1960s African-American ethos manifested in the
BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT and the entrepreneurship
that created Essence.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lewis, Edward. “In Celebration of our Twentieth An-
niversary.” Essence 21, no. 1 (May 1990): 20–21.
Judy Dothard SimmonsEvans, Mari (1923– )
Poet, dramatist, short fiction writer, children’s
writer, editor, essayist, and lecturer Mari Evans
was born in Toledo, Ohio, on July 16, 1923. She
attended the public schools of Toledo and the
University of Toledo, where she studied fashion
design. Instead of pursuing a career in fashion de-
sign, however, Evans began her professional career
as a writer and editor, working for a chain manu-
facturing company for three years. This provided
her with a range of creative freedom and disci-
pline. She worked as producer, director, and writer
for the television program “The Black Experience”
for WTTV, Channel 4, in Indianapolis (1968–73).
Evans has held teaching positions at Purdue Uni-
versity (1969–70); Indiana University at Blooming-
ton (1970–78); Purdue University, West Lafayette
(1978–80); Cornell University (1981–85); and
State University of New York, Albany (1985–86),
and she was a writer-in-residence at Spelman Col-
lege (1989–90). In addition to teaching, Evans has
lectured extensively throughout the country and
served as a consultant for such agencies as the Na-
tional Endowment for the Arts (1969–70) and the
Indiana State Arts Commission (1976–77).
Inspired by her father and influenced by
LANGSTON HUGHES, Evans is noted as a “powerful
poet” whose poetry has “a strong social commit-
ment and a marked clarity of poetic vision” (Pep-
pers, 117). Like that of her contemporaries in the172 Evans, Mari