Author: Shelby Stewart

Essence Magazine:

By Tevon Blair ·Updated December 30, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Among all historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), the longest-reigning choral director is celebrating fifty years of educating and training the vocal abilities of thousands of students through Dillard University’s music program.

Dr. S. Carver Davenport, associate professor of music and director of concert choir, began his tenure at the university in 1975. Since then, his teachings have helped

Essence Magazine:

By Mecca Pryor ·Updated December 15, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

If you blinked, you might’ve missed it—but fashion moved fast this week. Louis Vuitton announced Chase Infiniti as their newest ambassador, while Saint Laurent unveiled their inaugural Ski Collection. Nike and Vaquera teamed up on a limited-edition Air Max sneaker, and Denim Tears launched their new in-house line, Denim by Denim Tears.

Closing out the week, Lupita Nyong’o turned

Essence Magazine:

By Tevon Blair ·Updated December 15, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

From Texas House District 100 to representing the Lone Star State in Congress’ upper chamber, Rep. Jasmine Crockett announced her candidacy for the United States Senate on the same day as the state’s deadline for primary candidates to qualify. 

The second-term congresswoman is interested in expanding her national voice representing more than 750,000 residents in the 30th Congressional District

Essence Magazine:

By Tevon Blair ·Updated December 12, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

As the final holidays of the year approach, news headlines are not slowing down. From new congressional maps being approved ahead of the 2026 midterms to grand juries determining whether to indict or not to the end of free entrance days at federal parks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, a lot has unfolded. There’s even

Essence Magazine:

By Tevon Blair ·Updated December 10, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

One month after the release of the student-run magazine, Nineteen Fifty-Six, the University of Alabama (UA) permanently cuts its funding, suspending the magazine and claiming its mission to amplify Black voices violates federal guidelines on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. 

The university also suspended Alice, a fashion and wellness student-run mag that primarily features women. The suspension of

Essence Magazine:

By Shelby Stewart ·Updated December 2, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

New Orleans has a way of turning tradition into atmosphere. During Bayou Classic Weekend, the city doesn’t just host Grambling State and Southern University — it inhales them. You feel the brass before you hear it, smell the fryers working overtime, see generations of pride folded into colors, jackets, chants, and memories passed down like family heirlooms. It’s

Essence Magazine:

By Mecca Pryor ·Updated November 25, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Streetwear label 40s & Shorties has teamed up with singer Leon Thomas on a limited-edition capsule celebrating the release of his new EP Pholks. Drawing from Thomas’ signature fusion of rock, funk, and soul, the collection channels that same energy through intricate layering, thoughtful color palettes, and richly textured garments.

Both Leon and the brand note that the project

Essence Magazine:

By Bridgette Bartlett-Royall ·Updated November 4, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Make Do with What You Have(Amistad), by Kardea Brown

Following the success of her debut, The Way Home—and her new Charleston, South Carolina, restaurant, Kardea Brown’s Southern Kitchen the best-selling author is back. This offering taps her Gullah Geechee roots to bring us more than 100 delicious, easy-on-the-pocket recipes, like On the Run Breakfast Sandwiches and Ramen

Essence Magazine:

Courtesy By Shelby Stewart ·Updated October 29, 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

On October 25, the front doors of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library swung open fire red—an echo of Carmelo Anthony’s childhood home on Myrtle Avenue—welcoming the city inside what he calls House of Melo.

Baltimore photographer Devin Allen captures the streets and faces that shaped Melo, from Myrtle Avenue to Red Hook, each frame telling a