Joyce Wilford was the First African American Model to Cover Seventeen Magazine. Joyce Wilford was the first black model to cover the July 1971 issue of Seventeen magazine. Though many have claimed that Whitney Houston was the first African American to cover Seventeen, she was on the November 1981 issue. Three years ago I did a post (here) stating that she was the first African American to cover the magazine, but I stand corrected after further research. // // ]]> ♥[...]