First Black Cover Girl: Vogue and Beverly Johnson Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Cover

At 21-years-old Beverly Johnson made history and helped to usher in a new era of beauty in America. In 1974 she graced Vogue magazine, breaking barriers as the first Black woman to be featured on the cover. 40-years-ago it was viewed as a risk to put Beverly on the cover of a mainstream magazine, particularly one as hallowed as Vogue. This cover feature helped to catapult her modeling career into the international stratosphere and aided in the fashion industry's realization that Black is beautiful. 

 















It's important to reverence this accomplishment, because perhaps without it, the fashion industry would have taken longer to acknowledge that beauty of all shades should be celebrated. In one bold, calculated effort the industry lifted its blinders and Vogue proved it had a keen sense of consciousness of the delicate, fierceness of the Black woman.

 

Beverly's cover ensured that Black women would no longer be excluded from the proverbial table of beauty. She opened the door for not only other Black models, but also for Black female music artists. 

 

Although Beverly has made great strides in the fashion world, she concedes there is still room for improvement concerning diversity. In an article entitled, 1st Black Vogue Cover Girl Beverly Johnson Celebrates 35th Anniversary written in 2009 for the SunSentinel Beverly states, “You know I was on the Tyra show with Chanel Iman, Noemie Lenoir and all these young models of color and I listened to them and their frustrations and it’s the same frustrations I went through - the same sad song I was singing in the 70s…They continue to try to exclude us." Johnson said of the runway castings and photo shoot selections. "They don’t realize they are doing it. It is so ingrained.”

Beverly advises young models of color to have something to fall back on. She urges them to “be in charge of your own destiny and capitalize off of your name.” Beverly speaks from experience as an entrepreneur. She has developed The Beverly Johnson Skin Care System and The Beverly Johnson Hair Collection. These are available in beauty supply stores around the nation. 

Great advice Ms. Johnson. Thank you for your contributions to fashion and the beauty industry, but most importantly for helping to expand the world’s view of beauty to include Black women. 

I do not claim ownership to the above images.