Rica Wade in ” L’ Appuntamento ” photographed by Cameron Davis

First Black Playmate: Jennifer Jackson, 1965.

“Black is beautiful and it comes in all different shades. They recognized a black woman can be sexy too. At the time Playboy magazine was the mainstream of beauty starting with Marilyn Monroe…When I modeled there, they just wanted light-skinned black models. As I got married and had kids in the 70s they started auditioning dark skinned models. They still have light and dark. Now it’s recognized you have all colors and finally embracing that which I think is great. “