Peggy Ann freeman
Women’s History Month 2023 we highlight Peggy Ann Freeman (August 31, 1945 – May 17, 1979), known professionally as Donyale Luna, was an American supermodel and actress who gained popularity in Western Europe during the late 1960s. Generally cited as “the first Black supermodel”, Luna was the first African-American model to appear on the cover of the British edition of Vogue, in March 1966. Although the first Black cover model, Luna was not the first black model as she was preceded by models (then called mannequins) like Aïcha Goblet (Artists model), Adrienne Fidelin (first black model in Harpers Bazaar in September 1937), Sarah Harris, Bani Yelverton (first black model to appear in an American fashion show) and Anthea August (first black model in British vogue in 1963) who entered into previously ‘White’ modeling spaces before the 1966 cover. Luna entered modeling in a period that favored “white passing models” and has been described as “the first Black model who really began to change things; to enable more diverse beauty paradigms to break through”.] She is known to have been a covergirl 11 times between 1965 and 1975.
She appeared in several underground films like the screen tests of Andy Warhol (1966), and had roles in Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? (1966), and most notably as Enotea in the 1969 Federico Fellini film Fellini Satyricon, as well as Otto Preminger’s Skidoo (1968) in the role of “‘God’s Mistress”.
