Former (and first African-American) Miss Ohio USA Jayne Kennedy Overton was also one of the the first female sportscasters on CBS Sports’ NFL Today.  Statuesque, glamorous and rocking big hair,  this actress, model and dancer was a familiar face in Ebony and Jet throughout the 1970s and ’80s, and was the first African-American woman to be featured on the cover of Playboy.  I love this quote from her: “People were saying that…if I wanted to be taken serious in acting I couldn’t diversify. I couldn’t do commercials, can’t do singing, can’t do modeling, can’t do any of that stuff. Well, I thought that was a bunch of malarkey. The bottom line is if you were going to sit around and wait for a job as a black actress in the ’70s you might get two jobs in ten years. The fact is I succeeded at a time when Hollywood wasn’t ready for a black woman to succeed at that point.” 

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For more, check out this clip from TV One’s Way Black When with Sinbad.

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