Playboy’s first black model: Historic First Now Just a Footnote

With the uneventful passing of Black History Month, many firsts have come and gone. One that I had intended on doing was the first African-American woman in Playboy.
Her name was Jennifer Jackson of Chicago, the year was 1965 (she was 20) and the magazine (the cover didn’t run until 1971) didn’t even make mention of her race – it still got flooded with disapproving letters.
A few years later, Playboy decided to put her on the cover as an obigatory shot to its critics – and to Ms. Jackson, whom left the business, married and moved to the Pacific Northwest.

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