Lisa Cortés is following up voter suppression doc “All In: The Fight for Democracy” with a tribute to the first Black media empire. She’s in production on “The Empire of Ebony,” an exploration of “the rise and impact” of Ebony magazine and its sister publication, Jet. Deadline broke the news.

The doc will center around the Johnson Publishing Company, “the first home to Ebony and Jet,” and “explore the media empire’s beginnings as a small publishing company, started by John H. Johnson and Eunice W. Johnson with a five hundred dollar loan, to its incredible growth into a publishing juggernaut with an unparalleled cultural impact,” the source details. “The Empire of Ebony” will “chart the rise of Ebony and Jet and their growth into a brand with a readership base in the millions which has had an undeniable effect on American culture. This will include the important role these publications played in illuminating key moments in American history that went unreported by the mainstream.

“Growing up, Ebony and Jet were in every Black household and they were everything!,” said Cortés, who is also serving as a producer on the project. “You could start reading at home and finish at the beauty parlor, barbershop, or at your Auntie’s house. In the pages of these magazines I saw Black people who inspired me to dream and create.” She added, “Through a visual archive spanning 75 years of the most important moments of African American life, ‘The Empire of Ebony’ will be a revelatory story of entrepreneurship, innovation, and Black love.”

Cortés co-directed “All In: The Fight for Democracy” with Liz Garbus. She directed her first feature documentary, “The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion,” a study of how hip hop changed fashion, with Farah Khalid. Cortés won an Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for “The Apollo,” a history of the Harlem theater that she produced.