In November 1945, John H. Johnson vested his new magazine Ebony with a mission of emphasizing the “happier side of Negro life.” Throughout its first two decades, Ebony mainly focused on presenting the exploits of black celebrities and entrepreneurs who had obtained a significant measure of material wealth. Johnson hoped that such a focus would convince blacks that the good things in life were attainable and inspire them to carry on their campaigns for civil rights. This focus changed dramatically as shouts of “Black Power” began echoing over the land in the mid-1960s. “SOULED OUT: Ebony Magazine in an Age of Black Power, 1965-1975,” examines the ways in which the dramatic social upheaval and rising cultural consciousness of the Black Power movement prompted Johnson and his editors to alter Ebony’s traditional mission. Rooted in an extensive review of Ebony’s editorial commentaries, its readers’ letters to the editor, the advertisements that appeared on its pages, and interviews of many of the principals behind Ebony, this dissertation argues that, at a time when mainstream television and print media outlets regularly identified blackness with crime, disorder, and dependency, Ebony, more so than any other black media outlet, made it possible for everyday black Americans to become increasingly aware and accepting of the growing militancy and “Black is Beautiful” aesthetics of the era. Although each issue’s ideals and images communicated contradictions, the overall character of its commentaries enabled Ebony to both reflect and to spur the development of a pro-black oriented identity in black Americans.