November 2, 2026
BLACK ENTERPRISE remembers Gillespie as a driving force of excellence.
In 2017, Marcia Ann Gillespie sat down with Selena Hill, BLACK ENTERPRISE’s director of multiplatform content, after receiving the Barbara Graves Legacy Award at the 12th Annual Women of Power Summit. When asked about what she wanted her legacy to be, Gillespie admitted that she hadn’t really given it much thought. She did reflect on how she hopes to be remembered:
“I hope if I’m going to be remembered, that it will be as someone who helped to create publications that have meaning and worth for women and help to inspire and inform great numbers of women, especially Black women,” Gillespie told BE.
On Oct. 31, at the age of 82, Media maven Marcia Ann Gillespie died. She is remembered as a Black woman who was a pioneer—and “someone who helped create publications that have meaning and worth,” particularly for millions of Black women. Gillespie also leaves behind a legacy of editorial prowess that paved a pathway for many Black women in journalism and the media landscape. The roadmap Gillespie has laid is invaluable.
In 1970, Essence Magazine hired Gillespie as managing editor, and within a year, at 26, she became the publication’s editor-in-chief. In 1975, Gillespie would add vice president of Essence Communications Inc. to her title. She went on to lead Essence throughout the decade before passing the guardianship to Susan Taylor and moving on to Ms. Magazine, where she rose through the ranks and became the first Black editor-in-chief of a mainstream publication, The History Makers documented.
The famed editor shared insights on mentorship and her career path back in 2017. She said intergenerational dialogue, oral history, and shared family experiences provide the foundational education young people need to understand their identity and guide their future. Gillespie explained how her professional background led her to teach media and communications at SUNY Old Westbury. Grounding her principles in direct life experience, she emphasized that true learning happens beyond school walls through daily, meaningful exchanges between generations.
Marcia Ann Gillespie’s Philosophy On Oral History, Education and Identity
Gillespie emphasized the fundamental connection between past, present, and future. “If you don’t know where you come from, you never know where you’re going,” Gillespie told BE.
She stressed the importance of making the pursuit of knowledge an early practice, noting that her own foundational understanding of identity “really came from listening to my grandmother, my maternal grandmother who lived down the street, talk about what her life was like.”
Gillespie insisted that adults with children in their lives must take time daily to share what past experiences were like, defining those conversations as real education:
“It doesn’t happen always in the classroom,” Gillespie said. “Some of the most meaningful exchanges are those that happened just like… sitting and being women together.”
The Former Essence Editor Transitioned to Teaching
After working in editorial for Essence and Ms. Magazine for over two decades combined, and authoring a biography on Maya Angelou, Gillespie transitioned into teaching.
“I knew that I always wanted to teach,” Gillespie shared. “It was what I thought I was going to do when I went to college. I thought I was going to be an American historian.”
Describing teaching as her “semi-retired career,” Gillespie noted that it is “a wonderful way, and quite selfishly, to stay in touch with young people and to learn from them.” She added, “I think that I, because of my life experience and my work experience, have something to tell them and share with them because I’m basically… teaching media and communications majors, and I do know a thing or two about that.”
BLACK ENTERPRISE continues to honor Gillespie and remember her trailblazing accomplishments and the impact she has made in Black journalism—and the mainstream media industry.
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