Essence

CTL-E-0673 · Publication · other · 1970-present

PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record

General-interest magazine for Black women, founded 1970; initial circulation ~50,000 grew to ~1.6M; Time Inc. acquired it fully in 2005; returned to Black ownership (Essence Ventures/Richelieu Dennis) in 2018.

Notes

Merged into canonical KG 2026-10-03 from MEDIA-001; source entity IDs: CTL-DR-MEDIA-001:MED-039; source research type(s): Publication.

Sources

Wikipedia (Essence); BlackEnterprise.com (2021, 2023)
Wikipedia (Essence); BlackEnterprise.com; Face2Face Africa, 2018
Wikipedia (Essence); journal-isms.com; BlackEnterprise.com
BlackEnterprise.com (2021, 2023)
Wikipedia (Essence); Face2Face Africa, 2018-01
journal-isms.com
journal-isms.com; thesource.com
thesource.com

Record CTL-E-0673 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 8 sources · CTL research: MEDIA-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Cite this record

Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Essence (CTL-E-0673),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0673/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Essence (CTL-E-0673).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0673/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Essence (CTL-E-0673) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0673/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Essence (CTL-E-0673).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0673/

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.

The 35th Street Bronzeville CTA station, ChicagoPhoto: vxla (Eric Pancer), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wabash Avenue YMCA, ChicagoPhoto: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chicago Blues All-Stars performing live at Buddy Guy’s Legends, ChicagoPhoto: BluesAllstars, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Trust & evidence

Evidence before authority. CultureTechLens publishes its methods, its limits, and its corrections alongside its findings. Claims carry grades — VERIFIED, SUPPORTED, PROVISIONAL, DISPUTED, UNRESOLVED — and unknowns are never reported as zero.

Every claim graded. Every source named. Every correction public — none to date.