Ebony Tomatoes Collective is a literary and arts magazine for personal and political liberation—by a Black, intersectional  collective.

Featured Writing

Fresh new pieces, hand-picked by our editors

The Self

to mama

Matrilineal bonds and girlhood is on my mind, always. This poem came to be after reflecting on my relationship with my mother and the gaps in our lineage that I may never come to understand. Growing up, my mother would consistently recall her childhood home and a number of fruit trees her mother pruned, one being a cherry tree. In this poem, I allow myself to reflect on my grandmother’s backyard—a woman I never got to meet in a setting I will never see. Though in reality I play the role of estranged queer child, in this piece I allow myself to reimagine a relationship with both my mother and grandmother, one that is still touched by the rotting of time, but also softened by motherly love.

By Atarah Israel

The Village

Meet Pucker Up! The punk band for bad bitches

When Pucker Up! was still in the works, Shug and Demi—the band’s lead singer and bassist respectively—sipped on drinks at The Bog, a beloved local bar in their hometown,  Scranton, Pennsylvania. A man approached them soon after sitting down.

By Ava Pauline Emilione

The Self

You and I in Technicolor

They tell me in the moving pictures

that boys like you need girls like me

to grow them up into men who save people;

to grow them up into men who love people. 

By Cadence Beck

• New Issue • New Issue • New Issue • New Issue • New Issue • New Issue • New Issue • New Issue • New Issue • New Issue

Against the Tide

Against the Tide: Community Care in the Collapse of Empire is a testament to the power of grassroots organizing and resistance. Featuring essays and interviews with U.S.-based activists in the wake of the 2024 election, Against the Tide is a freedom cry and a call to action. Our editors went to The Free Black Women’s Library in Bed-Stuy, to enviornmental land trusts in New Mexico, to raves led by Black queer DJs, to non-profits in Texas, and beyond to connect with community leaders building a liberated future. Our 23rd issue reveals that oppression is not the end of our stories. With imagination and action, it is only the beginning.

Soul Food

Poem by Kendall Emphasis

Photo by Kendra Shiloh Russell

Collective Altar

A spiritual path towards communal healing by Taj-Levi 

Photo by Kendra Shiloh Russell

Ola Akinmowo and The Free Black Women’s Library

The transformative community power of one librarian and 100 books by Binny Onabolu

Photo by Kendra Shiloh Russell

I Think I’m Going to Raise Hell: In the Depths of Texas with Denita Jones

Tracing the journey of a Texas community organizer by Yumna Elhdari

Photo by Kendra Shiloh Russell

Lessons from a Lost Garden

The ongoing battle to bring fresh food to Atlanta’s West End by Imani Kriseé Herring

Photo by Kendra Shiloh Russell

Disruption on the Dancefloor

A Conversation with Black Queer DJs by Binny Onabolu

Photo by Kendra Shiloh Russell

Love Thy Neighbor, Honor Thy Land

A portrait of community leadership in the Southwest by Ava Pauline Emilione

Photo by Kendra Shiloh Russell

The Village

The stories across the Black Diaspora

to mama

The Selfto mamaBy Atarah Israel  butchered pumpkin seedsand rosebud-coated tongues,you plant apologies and nothingelse on my doorstep.  it is summerand meaning has escaped me:those fickle clouds and their shapeless ideologies,their abstract tendrils envelope me...

read more

You and I in Technicolor 

The SelfYou and I in Technicolor By Cadence Beck Ivory fingers on redbone skin,  your eyes were dead and filled with the sins of your daddy’s daddy long before I thought that someone might help things by keeping cans of light beer in the fridge for you.  By keeping...

read more

Meet Pucker Up! The punk band for bad bitches

The VillageMeet Pucker Up! The punk band for bad bitchesBy Ava Pauline Emilione When Pucker Up! was still in the works, Shug and Demi—the band’s lead singer and bassist respectively—sipped on drinks at The Bog, a beloved local bar in their hometown, Scranton,...

read more
Gndr

Gndr

The SelfGndrBy Phaïssa Grenaëlle Verdilus “How do you identify”? I unhinge my mouth to answer but no sound comes out “How do you identify”? I identify as fire NO. Not like the fading flicker of a lighter But like a hell mouth where parents, strangers, and politicians...

read more
Marbles

Marbles

The SelfMarblesBy Mon Misir CW: Self-harm, purging Grace Martin, at eight years old, held the world record for filling her mouth with marbles. Only, her name wasn’t Grace Martin then. She was Kaysha Williams. Her parents wanted her to have a fierce knowledge of her...

read more

keep in touch

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Editorial updates, watching and reading recommendations, calls for submissions, community events, and other Ebony Tomatoes musings—delivered straight to your inbox!

keep in touch

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Editorial updates, watching and reading recommendations, calls for submissions, community events, and other Ebony Tomatoes musings—delivered straight to your inbox!

Creative Tomatoes

Meet our team

Want to Work with us?

Shoot us a message, we’re always looking to grow our community!