On this day in 1967: Naomi Sims becomes 1st black model on U.S. cover

Start:	Aug 27, '09
Location:	New York, New York

Naomi Sims was on scholarship at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and began night classes in psychology at New York University. She was short of money and, encouraged by fellow students and teachers, went round to all the model agencies for work. They rejected her, some saying that her dark skin tones only had potential in segregated, lower-paying mags such as Ebony or Jet. She appealed directly to photographers, some of whom, in Bert Stern's words, were noticing that "negroes photograph better against white," blank backgrounds being the norm for fashion. Sims found her photographer, Gosta Peterson of the New York Times, who shot her for the cover of the August 1967 Fashions of The Times.

Naomi Sims lost her battle with cancer August 1, 2009 at the age of 61, nearly 48 years to the day that a black woman appeared on the cover of a mainstream U.S. magazine for the very first time.