50 years of history: Beverly Johnson opens up about being first Black model on Vogue cover

Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY
Updated ·2 min read
2

It's been 50 years since Beverly Johnson made history as the first Black model on the cover of Vogue, and she's still "proud" of the famous photo.

The fashion icon recounted the joy she experienced seeing her face on the cover in an interview with "CBS Mornings" Tuesday. Johnson also admitted she didn't know she was gracing the cover until the morning the issue hit the shelves.

"In those days, you never knew if you were on the cover until you were on the cover," Johnson, 71, said.

Beverly Johnson, who became the first Black model on the cover of American Vogue 50 years ago, talks finding out she made history.
Beverly Johnson, who became the first Black model on the cover of American Vogue 50 years ago, talks finding out she made history.

When her agent called to tell her the good news, the author and businesswoman rushed to a newsstand. Because she wanted to take the cover home but didn't have any money to buy it, she told the newsstand attendant she'd "be right back."

"He said, 'Yeah, right,'" she remembered the attendant saying. "'Typical New Yorker.'"

Looking back on her experience shooting for the August 1974 American Vogue issue, she was unsure but pleasantly surprised by how it turned out.

"When I first saw the cover, I said, 'Wow, and it's pretty too,'" she said. "I really love it. I'm so proud."

Johnson's 1974 issue came six years after Donyale Luna became the first Black model to appear on the cover of British Vogue. Luna died in 1979 at 33.

Beverly Johnson returns with major runway moments at NYFW shows

It took a bit for the former "Beverly's Full House" star to realize she made history.

"It wasn't until I was introduced as the first Black woman on the cover of Vogue that it hit me," Johnson said, and she eventually worked to better understand the responsibility that came with her glass-shattering role in fashion and modeling.

A Buffalo, New York, native, the "Don't Run for a Cover" singer suggested her lived experience was shaped by growing up in an all-white neighborhood. Johnson admitted she "didn't know the depths" of racism and wasn't prepared for the historic moment until after gracing the cover.

Beverly Johnson graced the cover of Vogue in 1974.
Beverly Johnson graced the cover of Vogue in 1974.

Still, she confidently said she felt "none" of the pressure that came with it.

"I wasn't prepared, but I'm a student, so I got prepared," Johnson said.

Today, she's loving life as a grandma and taking the stage in her off-Broadway one-woman show, "Beverly Johnson: In Vogue," which follows the model's journey in fashion.

"It is the most delicious time of my life," she said.

Tyra Banks, Beverly Johnson reflect on impact as Black supermodels, 'responsibility of being first'

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Beverly Johnson Vogue cover: Model 'proud' of historic anniversary