THE RAW DATA
Total number of people of color on the cover by year. In calculating this
figure, we included partial credit for group covers: If one of four actresses,
for example, was not white, it was counted as .25. The same math was applied
to split covers: If two of the four cover options included people of color
that counted as .50 covers.
DIVERSITY DROUGHTS
What titles had the longest stretches with all-white covers? We counted the
total number of consecutive covers without a single person of color.
Harpers Bazaar went 17 months with no diversity and without a person of
color on their cover
Harpers Bazaar went 16 months with no diversity and without a person of
color on their cover
Vanity Fair went 12 months with no diversity and without a person of
color on their cover
Marie Claire went 12 months with no diversity and without a person of
color on their cover
Esquire went 11 months with no diversity and without a person of
color on their cover
The Top 5 Cover Girls
Rihanna appears on 14 covers
Kerry Washington appears on 12 covers
Lupita Nyong'o appears on 10 covers
Selena Gomez appears on 10 covers
Jennifer Lopez appears on 8 covers
Diversity over time
Here’s how we determined the cover subjects by race: If a celebrity identified
themselves as non-white then so did we. So, for example, Demi Lovato's father
is of Mexican descent, so we counted her as non-white. Dwayne Johnson is
Pacific Islander and African American so he’s also considered non-white.
Ultimately, it’s a magazine cover, so perception trumps a complex reading
of race. Here’s how the U.S. Census defines it.
WHAT DOES NON-WHITE MEAN?
The racial categories included in the census questionnaire generally
reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and not
an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically.
People may choose to report more than one race to indicate their racial
mixture.
