Gillespie, Marcia Ann
1944-present · Contribution: 1970-2001
Magazine editor
Became editor-in-chief of Essence magazine at age 26 in 1971, then, in 1993, editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine, making her the first African American woman to lead a mainstream national magazine not aimed specifically at Black readers
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1944, Rockville Centre, New York
- Active since
- 1970
- Category
- Press & Photography
- Best known for
- Editor-in-chief of Essence at 26, then of Ms.
Impact on the world
Gillespie proved a young Black woman could build a flagship magazine and then lead a mainstream feminist institution, broadening whose voices and whose beauty American magazines centered.
Sources
- The HistoryMakers
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Related visionaries
Taylor, Susan L.
1946-present
Rose from freelance beauty editor to editor-in-chief of Essence magazine, a post she held from 1981 to 2000, becoming, according to a 1994 American Libraries assessment, “the most influential black woman in journalism” of her era
Thompson, Era Bell
1905-1986
Served as international editor of Ebony magazine for roughly two decades within a nearly 40-year career at Johnson Publishing Company, traveling to 124 countries and shaping the magazine’s global coverage of the African diaspora
Bass, Charlotta Amanda Spears
1874-1969
Became the first African American woman to own and operate a newspaper in the United States, running the California Eagle for nearly four decades, then became the first Black woman nominated for U.S. vice president in 1952
Clayton, Xernona
1930-present
Became the first Black person in the American South to host a regularly scheduled prime-time television talk show when Themes and Variations (later The Xernona Clayton Show) premiered on Atlanta’s WAGA-TV in 1967, then spent three decades as a pioneering Turner Broadcasting executive