Donyale Luna (1945 -1979)
Peggy Ann Freeman, otherwise known as Donyale Luna, is cited as the ‘First Black Supermodel.’ She was also the first African-American model to appear on the cover of British Vogue.
Luna was discovered by David McCabe in her hometown, Detroit, when she was 14 years old. However, her modeling career really took off in 1965 when Harper’s Bazaar, a magazine that never had a black person on its cover, featured a line-drawing sketch of Luna on its cover. Shortly after that, she signed an exclusive one-year contract with Harper’s famous photographer, Richard Avedon.
Though her career was short, the trailblazing model caused a revolution, bringing diversity into the predominantly white fashion industry, and paving the way for world-renowned black supermodels like Naomi Campbell, Iman, and Halima Aden, among others.
