Model Jane Hoffman arrived on the cover of Cosmopolitan without pomp or circumstance. As was standard at the time, she got no accompanying multi-spread story and only a few lines of identifying text in the table of contents. As was not standard at the time, she was a Black woman fronting a national women’s mag­azine. Then-editor Helen Gurley Brown didn’t pat herself on the back for the progressive choice. Jane’s inclusion was presented as customary and nothing less than normal...which, in 1969, was revolutionary in itself. Related Story Britney Spears' 2002 Cosmo Cover Jane posed for photographer Francesco Scavullo at the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement, building an impressive portfolio (she’d appear on Cosmopolitan’s cover again in 1971) as her fellow trailblazers pushed for equal rights and representation. Months earlier, Shirley Chisholm had become the first Black woman sworn into U.S. Congress. Weeks later, Black queer activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Stormé DeLarverie would play key roles in the Stonewall riots. Back then, cover models represented a certain ideal, an aspirational woman who could “have it all.” Jane’s cover sent the clear message that that woman—the fun, fearless, liberated “Cosmo girl”—didn’t have to be white. Her work paved the way for many future Black cover stars, from Julie Woodson (May 1977) and Naomi Campbell (February 1990) to Beyoncé (February 2006) and Doechii (Summer 2025). And all those years ago, Jane’s cover embodied a core Cosmopolitan mission that’s still going strong. Here, we champion all forms of love and identity.