by Michael P Coleman
It’s common today to see women of color gracing the covers of national magazines. Countless actresses like Lupita Nyong’o, Halle Berry, and Viola Davis enjoy the exposure that magazine covers can bring. They all owe a debt to Beverly Johnson, who was the first African American woman to appear on the cover of Vogue Magazine, in 1974.
I remember Johnson’s cover and what it meant to my mother and pre-teen sisters. As we prepare to welcome Johnson to Sacramento as the Keynote Speaker for this year’s Exceptional Women of Color conference, I’ve learned that that Vogue cover was just as big a deal for Johnson herself.
“It is as exciting for me today as it was then,” Johnson told me. “It was such a huge kind of responsibility for a young woman of 22. I felt like I was carrying a nation on my shoulders. It was an honor, and I really wanted to represent it well.”
Johnson has represented African American women on scores of magazine covers since then, and she has used her celebrity as a launching pad to advance a variety of civil rights causes. She has summarized her truly legendary career with the 2015 publication of her memoir The Face That Changed It All, in which she details her own plunge into and recovery from substance addiction and shares details of her relationships with boxing great Mike Tyson and tennis legend Arthur Ashe.
She also writes of her “encounter” with beleaguered comedian Bill Cosby. I asked Johnson why it took her so long to talk about the alleged attempted rape.
“We bring women up to be voiceless, to go along with the flow, don’t say anything,” Johnson posited. “To see these women [that had accused Cosby of rape] on television being crucified, I felt for THEM. I knew they were telling the truth because half of their story happened to me. I realized I could no longer keep my story to myself.”
With The Face That Changed It All, it looks like Johnson is finished with the practice of keeping stories to herself!
CLICK HERE for tickets to the 2016 Exceptional Women of Color conference featuring Beverly Johnson.
This feature was written by freelance writer Michael P Coleman.
Connect with him at michaelpcoleman.com or on Twitter: @ColemanMichaelP
