Essence (magazine)

May 1970: Barbara Cheeseborough, first issue Rather than waiting for the established titles to change, Essence launched as a magazine for Black women and put the model Barbara Cheeseborough on its very first cover. The face on that debut told readers who the magazine was for and what it celebrated, and the title is still publishing more than half a century later. A collector's piece for anyone tracing how independent publishing widened the newsstand.