The Pretty Red Door: A Mother Finds God’s Beauty Through the Eyes Of Her Child
So when you buy a house that’s 85 years old, it’s inevitable that you will spend a good portion of the first few years fixing,...
Here We Go Again: Tennessee’s Orlando Shaw, With 22 Kids by 14 Women, May Get Reality Show
By NICK CHILES First we got tortured by the travails of rapper Shawty Lo and his stable of baby mamas, now we stumble across this...
This Is My Beautiful, Smart Nephew Miles. He Will Change the World. And #HeIsNotASuspect
Editor’s Note: In response to the George Zimmerman verdict and the flood of responses from its readers, ESSENCE magazine is launching #HeIsNotASuspect, a powerful social...
‘Fruitvale Station’ Review: Film About Oscar Grant’s Death Captures the Horrors of Arbitrary Violence
By SHANNON BARBOUR For as long as I could remember, I’ve been a fan of horror films. From Stephen King’s Carrie, to Paranormal Activity, to...
After Trayvon, A White Woman Grapples with White Privilege and White Silence
White privilege wasn't easy for this woman to see, until she considered the death of Trayvon Martin.
The Kinsey Collection: Jordin Sparks Introduces Black Girls to the Fierce Courage of Phillis Wheatley
By NICK CHILES As the father of two talented young black girls, I know that sometimes the most important thing I can do to spark...
Mad About Trayvon: Finding the Right Words To Explain Anger Over ‘Not Guilty’ Verdict To Kids
By SHAWN TAYLOR I think I scared my daughter. Hell, I think I terrified her. When I heard the Zimmerman verdict, I lost it. I yelled...
In Trayvon Martin’s Name: Words, Art and Music Inspired By the Death of the Son We All Call Our Own
Some of the finest of art is painted with the broad colors of our pain: Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” would not have existed if not...
What If Trayvon Had Come Back Home? We Must Teach Our Children How to Cope With Racism
By HOWARD STEVENSON Let’s say your black son comes home one night, scared, out of breath from running. He tells you that some guy with...
The George Zimmerman Verdict Is Deeply Inhumane. This Is Why We Need To Keep Fighting.
Who prays for our sons? When their bodies are bloodied, broken and frozen in the footnotes of this, our complicated history, who falls to their...
In a Fog of Trayvon Rage and Sadness, Saying Goodbye to My Son
By NICK CHILES As the pain of the George Zimmerman verdict settled in yesterday, the sting of the words “not guilty” slowly starting to recede,...
The Kinsey Collection: Exploring Our Inspired History Through Art and the Words of Talib Kweli
Family is… everything—the very essence of human connection. As necessary, certainly, as air. Water. Freedom. Imagine, then, the absence of these things—the powerlessness that came...
Celebrating Black Marriage: How To Fix the Problems and Get Back To Sweet Love
By SHAWN TAYLOR By the time you read this, my wife and I will have celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. One of my good friends...
Surviving Miscarriage: Mourning the Baby That Never Was
The cramping started in the car—sharp pains that felt like the spasms I get when my period is imminent. By the time I got back...
Horrifying Story: State Doctors in California Forced Hundreds of Female Inmates to be Sterilized
By NICK CHILES Doctors in California violated state rules by forcing at least 150 female inmates to be sterilized between 2006 and 2010, according to...
