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Click to expand Image Plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detain an immigrant leaving their scheduled court appearance at a Federal immigration court in New York City, June 4, 2025.
Mona Scott-Young ’s selection as one of the 2026 ESSENCE Black Women in Music honorees reflects a career spent opening doors, creating businesses, and helping steer the direction of music and television.
Few teenaged talents have emerged on the scene with the presence, voice, and staying power of Monica. With a career spanning decades, the musical alchemist has solidified herself as an industry titan, transforming raw emotion into powerful performances, relaying narratives of heartbreak, true love, …
I love Brandy. I love that raspy, textured voice. The tone of it, the warmth of it, the way it wraps around a lyric and gives it life. I love that we’ve grown up with her, “Sittin’ Up in My Room” blasting from our old CD players.
Before building an audience in reality television, becoming a restaurateur, lighting up screens both large and small, and establishing herself as a multidimensional entrepreneur, Kandi Burruss first cemented her legacy as one of the music industry’s most prolific talents — both on the charts and beh…
There are artists who make hits, or even, define an era. And then there are the rare few who permanently change the language of music. Missy Elliott belongs to the last category. Before “creative visionary” became the industry’s favorite buzzword, Missy was already showing us what one looked like.
To address the maternal health crisis in America, Washington must invest in a proactive agenda of healthcare access, affordability and equity. American healthcare was fundamentally reshaped a year ago with the passage of H.R. 1.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated has welcomed a new group of honorary members into its sisterhood, adding several notable women from entertainment and public service to its Alpha Omega Chapter. The Class of 2026 was inducted on July 11 during the sorority’s International Grand Boulé in Nashville…
Dr. Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in South Carolina, is getting national attention following the death of her Republican opponent, Sen. Lindsey Graham, over the weekend. The Democrat, who handily won her primary in June, was expected to face off Graham in the November 3 midte…
Click to expand Image Rescuers work at the site of a landslide at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, July 8, 2026. © 2026 Shamimul Islam Faisal/AP Photo (Bangkok) – The deadly risks facing Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh were evident from landslides in July 2026, that kill…
Wherever Grace Pavlock pursued a bachelor’s degree — in her native Texas or across the country — she would face the same hurdle: “I was always going to be on that cusp of homelessness and not having a place to stay.” Staying with family was not an option, and she couldn’t afford dormitory expenses.
Each week, Rewire News Group editors scour headlines nationwide—from lawsuits over abortion access to LGBTQ+ rights—to bring you the most urgent news in reproductive justice. Here’s what you need to know from the past week’s biggest stories.
BANGOR, Maine — As Maine Democrats vie to replace Graham Platner in their state’s Senate race, abortion — a key weakness for Republican Sen. Susan Collins — is set to shape the next phase of the contest, which Democrats view as a prime pick-up opportunity.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing Wednesday, July 15, and Thursday, July 16. Ahead of the hearing, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights along with dozens of national organ…
One of the most star-studded events returned to New Orleans during the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture to continue giving flowers to those the Black community adores while they can be seen, heard, and felt.
This summer, I am retiring my extra small knotless braids in exchange for creative low-tension styles. I knew it was time to reset when, this summer, I found a small bald spot, aka traction alopecia, at the crown of my head from back-to-back tight styles.
It’s been quite a week. I’m guessing, like me, you saw a connective thread in the headlines: Accountability rarely arrives on its own. It comes because people refuse to stay silent. The post From Maine to Idaho, From the Senate to the Supreme Court: How Survivors Changed the Conversation This Week a…
Raise your awareness of gendered language on the job.
You might not be advised to buy a book for its cover, but the same can’t be said about its title. Consider the title of Heidi Kasa’s first book of poetry, published by Mouthfeel Press: The Bullet Takes Forever.
Nolan Xavier Wells deserved to see his 19 th birthday next month. The 18-year-old deserved to continue his studies and athletic career at Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he was a star wide receiver for the school’s football team with a major in general business.
In This Edition: Milestones: Charlene Mitchell became the first Black woman presidential nominee (1968); Sandra Day O’Connor was nominated as the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court (1981); 14th Amendment was ratified (1868); Wyoming joined the Union and its state constitution granted wom…
It would be easy to be cynical about a remake of Little House on the Prairie . At a moment when "tradwife" nostalgia and gender politics dominate so much of our cultural conversation, the series arrives as an unexpected relief—and maybe just what we need today.
For decades, single mothers have been kept from homeownership by a market that was not designed to deliver them the American Dream. That could all be about to change thanks to a bipartisan unicorn: A massive housing bill — the largest this century — that passed Congress and is about to become law.
“Love Island” is the rare dating show that offers a cash prize at the end, and with brand deals and commercial spots, the contestants can hope to make even more money after leaving the villa. Now, the audience can also cash in.
Peter S. Canellos is a prize-winning journalist and the author of Revenge for the Sixties: Sam Alito and the Triumph of the Conservative Legal Movement , which Publishers Weekly called “a razor-sharp” dissection of one of the most controversial justices on the Supreme Court, whose decisions are resh…
One might argue that Supreme Court justices are more visible today than ever before. Six have published books and Brett Kavanaugh is apparently working on one to become the seventh. Several have recently given television interviews, others have not shied from making public statements.
Five nights a week, millions of Americans vote on Love Island USA with just a few taps on their phones. Yet when Election Day arrives, most still stand in line, mail absentee ballots or travel to polling places.
No matter where she’s from, every Black woman knows the beauty salon has never been just a place to get her hair done. It’s where confidence is poured back into you until you walk out standing a little taller than you walked in.
Yesterday marked 158 years since the ratification of the 14th Amendment . The amendment, which, among other things, guarantees citizenship to “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” was in the spotlight during the 2025-26 term, in large part…
"does anyone know how much kindness it takes to kill someone"
Is it time to cancel the term “bodice ripper,” for its connotations of aggressive, potentially non-consensual sex? Some readers think so . But, thankfully, not all bodice rippers fall under that brand anymore.
The widow, son and sister of Venezuelan dissident Ronald Ojeda attend his burial service in Santiago, Chile, on March 8, 2024. The former military officer was kidnapped, killed and buried under cement in a slum.
This week Grammy-winning singer SZA, née Solána Imani Rowe, shared that she had received a formal autism diagnosis. In a now-deleted Instagram post, she joked that the diagnosis meant she was “smarter than u.
When the Supreme Court says, as it did earlier this month in West Virginia v. B.P.J. , that banning transgender girls from school sports is about protecting the safety and fairness of women's and girls' sports, I hear that claim against everything I actually lived.
In May, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported one of the greatest public health victories of the past 50 years. A government survey found that cigarette smoking among U.S.
A pair of consecutive court actions this week brought renewed attention to policies in Republican-led states to control lessons and conversations on gender and race in public colleges and universities. A group of legal advocates sued the Texas Tech University system Wednesday over curriculum restric…
After President Donald Trump gained ground with young men and rode his ascendant, aggressive brand of masculinity into a second term in the White House, a group of progressive Democratic strategists bet big on a new kind of candidate: aesthetically masculine men who could run economic populist campa…
What happens when a legendary actress and producer, world-renowned chef, iconic television producer and writer, and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist come together to not only curate the ESSENCE Festival of Culture but also grace the cover of the newly imagined ESSENCE magazine? You get a once-in-a-…
When I was asked to be a model for the Teyana Taylor Makeup Challenge at Beautycon during this year’s ESSENCE Festival of Culture , I thought I understood the assignment. As an intern, I’d spent days on the move, completing a myriad of tasks before and during the festival.
On July 2nd, Survival of the Thickest released its third and final season on Netflix, and the show is definitely closing out on a fashionably high note. This season, Mavis truly steps into her own, on her own terms, and has some major career breakthroughs.
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