Lupita Nyong'o Becomes Second Black African Woman Ever to Appear on Cover of US Vogue

By Jorge Rivas  |  June 19, 2014 | 3:23pm
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There’s a black woman on the cover of Vogue Magazine and it’s not Rihanna, Beyonce or Michelle Obama, for a change. Today the Mexican-born Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o becomes the second black African woman to grace the cover.

Beverly Johnson became the first black model to get the coveted Vogue cover in 1971. According to IndieWire, since 1989 only eight black women have made the cover of American Vogue: models Naomi Campbell and Liya Kebede, actresses Halle Berry and Jennifer Hudson, and Beyonce, Rihanna, Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.

Nyong’o is the second African woman to grace the cover after Ethiopian model Liya Kebede, who has appeared on the cover three times.

Photographed by Mikael Jansson, Vogue, July 2014

In a speech earlier this year at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon, Nyong’o said she remembered “a time when I too felt unbeautiful. I put on the TV and only saw pale skin. I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin.”

“My one prayer to God was that I would wake up lighter skinned,” Nyong’o said.

Lets hope this latest Vogue cover helps other young boys and girls with dark skin feel more beautiful.

More photos from the July issue of Vogue below.

Photographed by Mikael Jansson, Vogue, July 2014

Photographed by Mikael Jansson, Vogue, July 2014

Earlier this year, Vogue’s Creative Director Sally Singer told Fusion’s Alicia Menendez that Nyong’o was part of the 10 celebrities the magazine would be watching in 2014.

 
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