07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Clarence O. Smith, a Founder of Essence Magazine, Is Dead at 92
Clarence O. Smith, who convinced skeptical mainstream advertisers of the power and worth of the Black female consumer market as a founder of Essence, the first general-circulation magazine directed at Black women, died on April 21. He was 92.
Mr. Smith, who lived in Yonkers, N.Y., died in a hospital after a short illness, his niece Kimberly Fonville Boyd said. She provided no other details.
Essence began publication as a monthly in May 1970 in an era when negative and sometimes hateful stereotypes of Black women were commonplace, said Edward Lewis, who was one of four founders of Essence and who became its chief executive.
'We had to overcome this perception,' he said in an interview. 'Clarence suggested that we start telling the story of Black women as strivers.'
