Its target audience is the African-American community, and its coverage includes the lifestyles and accomplishments of influential black people, fashion, beauty, and politics.

[6] Its cover photography typically showcases African-American public figures, including entertainers and politicians, such as Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, former U.S.

Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Tyrese Gibson, and Tyler Perry.

[12] Ebony's earlier content focused on African-American sports and entertainment figures, but eventually began including black achievers and celebrities of many different professions.

Articles were published about political events happening all over the U.S. where activists protested racial violence and advocated for increasing social mobility for African Americans across the diaspora.

In 1965, executive editor Lerone Bennett Jr. wrote a recurring column entitled "Black Power", which featured an in-depth profile of Stokely Carmichael in 1966.

[15] Ebony also commemorated historical events that contributed to black citizenship and freedom such as the September 1963 issue that honored the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Due to the emergence of new African-American oriented magazines such as Essence, Ebony began to cover more political activism and achievements in the 1970s.

More recent issues questioned whether President Obama was still right for black America and whether biracial Americans need more acknowledgment in today's society.

In May 2016, Johnson Publishing, the family business that founded Ebony and Jet, sold both publications to Texas-based private equity firm CVG Group for an undisclosed price.

[23] In December 2020, Milwaukee Bucks alum and Black businessman Junior Bridgeman bought Ebony and Jet for $14 million from CVG.

The lineup featured popular figures like Jay-Z, Barack Obama, Prince, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Marvin Gaye, Muhammad Ali and Billy Dee Williams.

Former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers, of the Obama administration, had become the chief executive officer of the magazine.

[40] In July 2019, three months after Johnson Publishing Company filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy liquidation, it sold its historic photo archives including the prints and negatives to a consortium of foundations to be made available to the public.

[43][44] In 2017, 50 freelance writers created a social media campaign #EbonyOwes due to not being paid by the magazines' current owner, Clear View Group.

The magazine owners were ordered to pay $80,000[45] Ebony Media Operations, Clear View Group and the National Writers Union agreed that all unpaid invoices would be paid over four quarterly installments by the end of 2018.