lit a candle 5h agoMy mum called me here in Manila just to tell me Marcia Gillespie had died, she used to buy Essence every month when I was a kid on Long Island. Funny what sticks, the magazines stacked on the coffee table, not any article in particular.
Their story
Marcia Ann Gillespie, the trailblazing magazine editor who led both Essence and Ms. magazine and became the first African American woman to serve as editor in chief of a mainstream American publication, died on October 31, 2026, at the age of 82. Born on July 10, 1944, in Rockville Centre,…
Marcia Ann Gillespie, the trailblazing magazine editor who led both Essence and Ms. magazine and became the first African American woman to serve as editor in chief of a mainstream American publication, died on October 31, 2026, at the age of 82.
Born on July 10, 1944, in Rockville Centre, New York, to a church sexton father and a domestic worker mother, Gillespie grew up in a working class family on Long Island before earning a bachelor's degree in American studies from Lake Forest College in 1966. She began her career as a researcher at Time Life Books in New York before being hired in 1970 as managing editor of the newly launched Essence, a magazine created for Black women readers. A year later, at just 26, she was promoted to editor in chief, a role in which she helped build Essence into one of the fastest growing women's magazines in the country and a lasting source of affirmation for Black women.
In 1980 Gillespie moved to Ms. magazine, eventually rising from contributing writer to editor in chief by 1992. In that role she made history as the first African American woman to lead a mainstream American magazine, and she expanded the publication's readership to be the most diverse in its history. She later co founded Liberty Media for Women, the investor group that bought Ms. magazine in 1998 and relaunched it in 1999, before helping arrange its transfer to the Feminist Majority Foundation in 2001.
Beyond editing, Gillespie spent decades as a lecturer, essayist, and advocate for racial and gender justice, serving on the boards of organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Global Fund for Women. She co-authored the authorized biography Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration and, in later years, taught media and communications as a visiting professor at SUNY Old Westbury while working on her own memoir, titled When Blacks Became Americans.
News of her death was first reported by Essence, the magazine she once led, under the headline "Marcia Ann Gillespie, Former Editor-In-Chief Of ESSENCE, Dies At 82." As of this writing, no cause of death has been made public, and further details about funeral or memorial arrangements have not yet been announced. Tributes from colleagues in journalism and the women's and civil rights movements are expected to follow in the coming days, honoring a woman widely credited with reshaping how Black women and feminist readers saw themselves reflected in the American press.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Essence.
In their own words
“It had never crossed my mind as a possibility.”
To the Baltimore Sun in 1999, on being named editor-in-chief of Ms.
“Part of how I became Editor-in-Chief was that I had the audacity to think I knew what the magazine needed.”
Interview with Black Enterprise, 2017, on becoming editor of Essence at 26
“I wanted to celebrate us. I wanted to help inspire us because I believe, as I always do, that we are capable of changing the world.”
On her vision for Essence, Essence 50th anniversary feature
“Be prepared to stand your ground. As a leader, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be popular.”
Career advice, Black Enterprise, 2017
“Excellence; in some small way, I hope I've encouraged women to go for it.”
Asked what she hoped her legacy would be, Black Enterprise, 2017
“If you can speak you can write.”
Her advice to Susan L. Taylor, as recalled by Taylor
“It was celebrating something that I thought was really important and that was the love Black fathers had for their children.”
On her favourite Essence cover, June 1974, in the OWN documentary Time of Essence
Photos
2Marcia Ann Gillespie speaking at Girls Write Now's CHAPTERS reading, 2013
Jan 2013 · by People Forever
Marcia Ann Gillespie, The HistoryMakers interview portrait, 2013
by People Forever
my mother kept every issue too, still has them in a closet