• by Sara Guaglione , October 16, 2020

Magazine covers this year have featured Black people three times more than in the previous 90 years, according to a research by University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media professors.

The research, which was done by Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni, Mark K. Dolan and Marquita Smith, and published by Poynter, found that every one of the 126 covers published in 2020 that featured Black subjects showed them in “a positive and uplifting light.”

Since the 1930 Time cover featuring Ethiopian leader Haile Selassie (the first time the magazine had a Black person on the cover), there were about 40 total covers of non-ethnic magazines that showed Black subjects as "respected, celebrated or as everyday Americans," according to their research. 

Conde Nast's Vogue, for example, commissioned special, illustrated covers for its September 2020 issue. 

Vanity Fair’s September issue featured an illustration of Breonna Taylor, the Black woman shot and killed by police in March in her Louisville apartment, as did O, The Oprah Magazine.

There are many other recent examples: Hearst's Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines also featured Black subjects on its covers this year, as did Meredith’s InStyle, Health and Shape.