Donyale Luna

[Number23]

All right, as you guys know I like a fluffy conversation every bit as much as the hard-hitting stuff. This one is fluff. :P

Harpers' Bazaar UK did a really great article on the world's first black cover girl, a stunning, magical, confusing creature called Donyale Luna. She was on the cover of Harpers' Bazaar in 1965. Here is a picture of the cover.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_w3ip8wWff84/SneefR2H8ZI/AAAAAAAACOY/fnfZEgFCFSQ/s400/Picture+6.png

Yeah, I know it's hard not to laugh. The first black woman on the cover of a major fashion magazine and not only is it a drawing, but they lightened her skin so many shades you can't even tell this woman was black.
Here is an actual photo of her: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7vk_VM_Z8M4/SORLe-eh20I/AAAAAAAAANg/r3TMDHi5Rgw/s400/donyale+luna.jpg Stunning. Breathtaking.

Here she is on her first Vogue cover in 1966 - . Yes, try not to laugh at this one either. ;)

The thing that was so interesting about this woman, is that this child was born in Detroit, Michigan to two black parents. But because of some famous black folks' tendency to err... "mischaracterize" things she somehow conjured up some alternate reality that involved a mother from Mexico and a grandparent that was Irish. (Reminds me of Prince conjuring up a white mother in Purple Rain.) Luna did everything in her power to deny her black heritage, but America being what it was (especially in the 60s) wouldn't allow it. So she fled to London where she dated a Rolling Stone and married an Italian guy until her death of a drug overdose at the age of 32.

Kwassa's recent post on "blonde, white privilege" is what inspired me to post this OP as well as the current discussion on Tiger Woods. I can't help but look at this woman and be stunned at her physical beauty. And she did well as a model, but there is no doubt that her skin color kept her from becoming the massive, mega-star that she could have and should have become. I wouldn't be surprised if her lack of racial acceptance contributed to her drug use, as well. It all seems so unnecessary and sad. And even in 2009, we all know far too many black folks, famous or otherwise, who will reach back to so many "greats" to boast some non-Negro heritage it's almost laughable. Any idea when just being black will be enough??

[firedupdem]

1. Wow..thanks for this. I needed some 'fluff' right about now...

Any idea when just being black will be enough??


Good question. I was home the other day flipping through channels and found myself looking at the Tyra Banks show. I could only take it about 5 mns. The subject matter had something to do with race and some woman was saying 'white people accept us mixed race people' etc...she really sounded lost and like she was dying for acceptance from white people. She sounded as if her entire life would not be valued if she didn't get this acceptance she was looking for. Anyhoo...I'm rambling, but thanks for the post. I had never heard of this woman.

[Number23]

2. I had never heard of her either. And that's kind of surprising to me

because fashion and media are definitely in my top 15 things that I'm pretty obsessed about. :)

Yeah, people like the girl you mentioned on the Tyra show are common. I don't get it myself, but I understand that I grew up in an environment where being black was something to be cherished and FIERCELY protected. Not everyone has that.

I think it's sad to have children of any race grow up feeling "less than" because of the color of their skin. But I think it's actually quite dangerous when you have gorgeous, talented, successful or brilliant people of color feeling as though they have to conjure up some imagined "multi-ethnic" ancestry in order to feel good about themselves or begging for acceptance from white society.

It's something that as the mother of a bi-racial child (and another on the way) that I think about alot. I've already started telling my three year old stories about her wonderful family and culture back in America, going out of my way to find story books that show people of color, and I've already got my kids grooving to jazz and Outkast. :) It would hurt me terribly to have my children reject their black heritage. I'm doing everything I can think of to prevent that.

[Kind of Blue]

3. Oh, yeah. La Luna. Found out about her a little while

ago at The Cocoa Lounge or http://cocoalounge.blogspot.com/ - too bad the site hasn't updated in a while. It definitely celebrated our beauty with no exception. Then while on a Luna kick, found this link, as well http://www.style.com/beauty/icon/020808ICON - nice little slide show.

[Number23]

4. Good grief! I'm loving that cocoalounge site!

Why does the good stuff on the Internet always die??

The thing about La Luna is that Luna wasn't even her real name! Girl, she was born Peggy Anne Freeman of Detroit, Michigan. She ran like HELL away from all of that though.

I recently discovered a web site called Racialicious. http://www.racialicious.com/ It's not as "black as beautiful" as cocoalounge but it's still got some pretty good stuff every now and again.

[Kind of Blue]

5. Thanks for the Racialicious link!

I like it!

[Fire1]

6. Well, it's quite obvious she is of mixed heritage somewhere

along the line and judging from her color, doesn't have to reach back too far. Many of us have only to reach back one or two generations while others have the caucasion, foreign or American Indian lineage throughout five or six generations and can be visibly detected. The black and proud era of the sixties seemed to be harder on lighter skinned AA, as they were constantly trying to prove their "blackness." Now, I find it strange to see so many obvious products of mixed marriages identifying with the caucasion race or some other race, like Caublasian (Tiger Woods).

[Number23]

7. This web site has a ton of pic of her. She doesn't looked mixed to me

She looks like any number of gorgeous black women in America. And since 99% of us are comprised of a really interesting racial stew, I think her look is distinctly black American.

http://minimadmodmuses.multiply.com/photos/album/5/Donyale_Luna

[Fire1]

8. She's not completely void of negroid features as can be seen

in her lips. But, other distinct features prove the "mixed stew" to be quite evident. Point being, I don't think she had to "invent" her lineage, although perhaps she did. Had she had access to the information age of today and done a little more research, she probably would have found her fantasy to be a reality by going back only two or three generations.

As a result of the mixed bag from which we have evolved, I don't think there is a "distinctly black" American or distinctly black "look." Considering our history, I think anyone would be hard pressed to determine exactly, what is distinctly black american.

[Kind of Blue]

9. Exactly. Your phenotype is not your genotype.

Coming from Africa, she looks like an African woman to me and not necessarily a mix. Sheesh, I remember as a teen when Iman first came out. They spun a story around her that she was the daughter of a goat/sheep/cow herder (something like that), when she is actually the daughter of a well-educated diplomat and she an educated woman. She was not some poverty-stricken girl plucked out of deep dark Africa by a White photographer-savior.

So if you were Black, mix it up and then when you are distinctly Black and educated, tone that down too. Whatever is palatable at the time for Whites to digest. From what I read of Luna, there was outrage that even that drawing made the cover.

[Number23]

11. I think that there is a difference between a black person from America, from Eruope, Africa

and from the Caribbean. Can't you usually tell a black American from a black African?

It is exactly because of the distinct racial flavor of America (European, Native American, African) that I think most black Americans do tend to have a very distinct look.

Even looking at say a black British person, they have different physical characteristics (in my opinion) from black Americans and it's no doubt because of the American Indian component. The unique racial stew that is distinctly black America I think gives us a unique look and damn sure a very unique history.

[Fire1]

13. Of course you can tell the difference. That's not what I said.

I said, anyone would be hard pressed to define "black american" looks, as a result of the mixed bag from which we have evolved. Just as there are varieties of shades and colors of our complexions, there is also a wide variety of features, some in combination and some totally void of african features and some with mostly african features. Consequently, there is no "distinct" african american "look."

[Number23]

16. lol I'm trying to figure out if you're just being contrary or what

'Cause one minute you go from "there is no black American look" to "of course you can tell the difference between black Americans and other people." lolol

I'm going to leave it at that. I just thought the topic of Donyale Luna was interesting.

[Fire1]

17. I am referring exactly to your #15 post. Orientals have a

distinct "look." American Indians have a distinct "look." People of the Mediterranean have a distinct "look," as do many other races. So, yes, I can distinguish the difference between these people. Otoh, OURS is not a distinct "look."

[Kind of Blue]

14. Wow, I'm surprised that your comment

seems to be falling into an area of stereotyping ourselves. I wonder if it depends on how many Africans you've been exposed to and maybe only judging from that pool? I only say so because I also assess from experience and experience has taught me not to judge where people of color are from by their features.

In France, the French thought that I was from Guadalupe or Haiti - though my accent is clearly American and my French speaking skill was poor. My first year here out West, I was taken to a casino where the Native Americans were extremely gracious and overly friendly, nice but I wondered what was up. My then-boyfriend-now husband and in-laws starting laughing saying, well, they think you're an American Indian. Years ago, While living out East, a co-worker showed a photo to me, she had purposefully taken while on vacation of an Indian girl at a Pow-Wow because she could have sworn the girl was me or a relative. To the day I moved cross-country, she did not believe that I have no Native American blood - as far as I know.

While in London, a dear South African Indian friend told me that in South Africa, I would be considered colored (mixed race people) not Black, and didn't matter what my bloodline says. Talk about infuriating!

My mom's pet peeve in the States as a 20-something-year old back in the '60s, and was the common refrain (among African-Americans), "Wow, you don't look like an African."

Well, maybe I'm missing the point and there's a quality that native born African Americans possess that points out the distinct look(s).

edited to include a point.

[Number23]

15. How is it a stereotype to acknowledge that people from different places have different looks?

I can usually tell a person is from Ethiopia before they tell me.

I can usually tell that someone is from Japan before they tell me.

All I'm saying is that I think black Americans have a distinct look because of our racial history. Maybe it's because of the Native American influence; maybe it's because many of our ancestors were taken from a particular region of West Africa; maybe it's because of the influence of mostly Spanish and English European ancestry. I'm really not sure what the issue is here with me saying that.

[Kind of Blue]

18. I'm sorry, Number23, I just think it's a wide blanket to

cast. I think based on encounter with a small population of people from each group and/or a particular concept of what a group of people should look like, it's stereotyping. I can go on and on with examples where I've judged or have been judged incorrectly. And you will counter based on your life experience that you can judge correctly, so I'll leave it at this again, may be there is a quality that native born African Americans have that allows the detecting of distinct features in one another.

[Fire1]

19. "maybe there is a quality that native born African Americans have

that allows the detecting of distinct features in one another." Sorry, Kind of Blue, there are no such qualities, which I have been trying to point out throughout this thread and I'm happy to know my efforts were not in vain.

[Kind of Blue]

21. Quite honestly, I've known exceptionally

gorgeous Africans that look similar to Donyale Luna from the northwest to the west to the east to central to the south, and none of them would claim that they are mixed nor are they related. Africans have - and I may be stereotyping here but I don't think so - have the most diverse group of phenotypes on Earth. I mean even our skin color varies from the very light (with no admixtures) to the very dark with at least 35 shades of melanin, as opposed to the European a little over 10. So the high diversity within the group already exists.

In Jamaica, I thought I was walking around Africa because so many people seemed so familiar to me. I can recall many people in my family with features that may cause some here to consider mixed. Hell, once upon a time, I unintentionally insulted a Somalian sister by thinking she was Ethiopian and I've done the opposite with Ethiopian people. I had a best friend who was so Afrocentric that people used to confuse her for the African :rofl: When corrected, some said it's not the way she dressed but she had more Africoid features. And this is a friend who has Europeans in her ancestry!

Maybe because I've seen tons of Africans and grew up in the States that I may just have blinders on as far as features.

[Number23]

20. I'll leave you with this as an anecdote.

I remember when Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love" came out. There was not a black person in America who did not know that she was black or at least mixed race. White people were blown away when (a while later) she acknowledged her multi-racial heritage.

When I was in Argentina, everyone swore up and down that I was Brazilian. I am constantly mistaken for Hispanic and actually got into a fight with a man from Ethiopia when I lived in DC who told me not to "deny what I was," he was so convinced that I was Ethiopian. When I was in the Middle East, I had Arabs fall on the floor when I told them I was black because they just KNEW that I was Kuwaiti, Jordanian, Indian etc. But I met a black Iraqi man who took one look at me and said "you're black like me!" I will never forget his smile and how excited he was. He had not seen very many black Americans up close before me.

When I visited England a few years ago, black people there IMMEDIATELY identified me as American. Maybe it was my navy pea coat, I don't know. But I didn't find it all that unusual that they could identify me as a black American as I am frequently able to do the same thing with other black Americans.

I have known black people from everywhere and have my entire life, and I can usually tell the ones who are American. Does that mean that I'm always right? Of course not. But the very idea that in your post you acknowledged that many people thought you were from "somewhere" shows that it's quite common for people to identify certain racial characteristics with certain parts of the world. As borders between countries become more and more insignificant and as more and more people find themselves less hindered by the constraints of "race", it's entirely conceivable that before a hundred years' time none of this will matter anyway.

[Kind of Blue]

22. Well, I think you have an inate quality

to be correct a lot of the times. No, Europeans always assumed what I was Not until I spoke and even afterward some refused to believe. I've always had to tell my Black/White/Hispanic/Asian Americans friends that I was not born here, otherwise it's assumed. None of them have judged me just by features that, Oh, she must be native born. I just don't think most people can usually tell based on features where people are from. Clearly, you and I have different experiences on this.

And I agree with this, which is my point, as well: people do identify characteristics with certain parts of the world but my experience finds that it's not usually correct to assume. Biology mixes genes efficiently and surprisingly.

And I also agree that hopefully all of the judgments about race/ethnicity based on features will be gone in 100 years and there will no longer be the need for assumptions about each other. History shows over and over again that such minor things gets humanity into trouble when we are more alike than different.

[NOLALady]

10. You are right.

She does look like many gorgeous black American women. And 99% of them are part of the mixed racial gumbo that defines Black America.

With a little research, she probably would have found her non African ancestors. She didn't have to make them up. But, It's too bad she felt the need to reinvent herself. Maybe she felt she had a better chance at success by identifying with other ethnic groups.

My husband has family members who are "passing" in this day and age. For the life of me, I can't figure out why. Maybe he thought he had a better chance at success, but that didn't happen. Maybe he thought life would be less stressful without the constant need to "prove" himself. I don't know. Personally, I feel sorry for them.

[Number23]

12. I agree.

And 99% of them are part of the mixed racial gumbo that defines Black America.

We are defined by our environment and racially, for black people in the US that includes African, Native American and European ancestry, all jumbled up and tossed together. I don't think that this particular combination is something that you will see very often in blacks born in Europe or in Africa. It's probably also a similar look to many black Brazilians who have a similar racial heritage (superficially) to black Americans.

Personally, I feel sorry for them.

I'd probably feel exactly the same way. On one hand, I understand that being able to pass must make things soooo much easier for black people that are able to do it. On the other, denying something that means so much to me on a personal level is something I could never do.