Fabulous Covers of Jet Magazine from the 1950s, a Weekly Magazine that featured African-American Celebrities

Jet, a weekly digital magazine focusing on news, culture, and entertainment related to the African-American community, was founded in November 1951 by John H. Johnson of the Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois. The magazine was titled “The Weekly Negro News Magazine.”

During the civil rights movement’s earliest years, Jet chronicled Emmett Till’s murder, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the activities of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Jet was published in digest-sized format from November 1, 1951, to December 27, 1999, in all or mostly black-and-white. In 2009, Jet expanded one of the weekly issues into a monthly double issue. Johnson Publishing Company experienced the same loss of circulation and advertising as other magazines and newspapers in the digital age. Jet’s final print issue was published on June 23, 2014, continuing only as a digital magazine application. Johnson Publishing sold Jet and its sister publication Ebony to private equity firm Clear View Group in 2016. The company is now known as Ebony Media Corporation as of the date of sale.

Below are 45 Jet magazine covers from the 1950s.

#1 Actress Acquanetta, Hollywood’s Jungle Girl, Jet Magazine, February 14, 1952

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#2 Can Bojangle’s Widow, Elaine Robinson, Make a Comeback?, Jet Magazine, May 1, 1952

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#3 Hollywood Starlet Mauri Lynn Gets Role in New Movie, Jet Magazine, May 22, 1952

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#4 Urylee Leonardos, Broadway’s Most-Jinxed Performer, Jet Magazine, September 25, 1952

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#5 Vera Francis, Typical of Hollywood Black Beauties, Jet Magazine, June 5, 1952

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#6 What Happens to Negro Child Prodigies Like Philippa Schuyler, Jet Magazine, December 11, 1952

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#7 Wives of Negro Millionaires Like Toy Sewell, Jet Magazine, January 17, 1952

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#8 Ella Fitzgerald, Jet Magazine, June 11, 1953

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#9 Hard Luck Singer Jean Parks, Jet Magazine, March 5, 1953

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#10 Joyce Bryant Wears Sexy Gowns For Show Business, Jet Magazine, October 1, 1953

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#11 Mrs. Barbara Barland is One of the Most Beautiful Women in Negro Society, Jet Magazine, December 17, 1953

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#12 Ramona Bruce, Jet Magazine, December 24, 1953

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#13 Anna Mae Winburn, Leader of All Girl Band, Jet Magazine, February 11, 1954

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#14 Connie Hatton Models Swimwear, Jet Magazine July 15, 1954

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#15 Diahann Carroll, A Cinderella Singer, Jet Magazine, April 15, 1954

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#16 Harlem Model Mary Cunningham Accidentally Killed Her Lover, Jet Magazine, March 25, 1954

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#17 How Long Do Glamour Girls Like Louise Franklin Last, Jet Magazine, June 10, 1954

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#18 June Eckstine, Jet Magazine June 17, 1954

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#19 Lena Horne, Jet Magazine, April 22, 1954

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#20 Mardelle Rodgers Models Shell Jewelry, Jet Magazine, August 5, 1954

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#21 Pretty Jeanna Limyou of Los Angeles, California, Jet Magazine, October 21, 1954

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#22 Suzette Harbin Was Live Pinup For GIs in Korea, Jet Magazine, July 22, 1954

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#23 Sylvia Fitt of New York Models Beachwear, Jet Magazine, April 8, 1954

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#24 Are Working Wives Less Moral, Jet Magazine, February 3, 1955

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#25 At What Age Is A Woman Most Beautiful?, Jet Magazine March 3, 1955

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#26 Beverly Jacques Is The Typical New Orleans Black Beauty, Jet Magazine, April 7, 1955

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#27 Can Boxer Sugar Ray Robinson Regain His Title?, Jet Magazine, November 3, 1955

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#28 Doris Chambers Models The Covered Up Look in 1955 Beachwear, Jet Magazine, June 2, 1955

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#29 Is Gambling Increasing Among Society Women?, Jet Magazine, February 17, 1955

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#30 Should Negroes Leave Mississippi?, Jet Magazine, April 21, 1955

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#31 Sylvia Blackburn, Pretty Howard University Senior, Jet Magazine, December 1, 1955

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#32 Talk of Dorothy Dandridge Getting An Oscar, Jet Magazine, March 10, 1955

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#33 Teenage Beauty Queen Carole Preston, Jet Magazine, December 8, 1955

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#34 When Does A Woman Like Carmen DeLavallade Lose Her Shapely Legs?, Jet Magazine, June 16, 1955

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#35 A New Lady Poet, Mauryne Brent, Jet Magazine January 26, 1956

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#36 Dolores Smalls Models Vacation Beachwear, Jet Magazine, August 23, 1956

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#37 Katherine Bell, One of The Pin-up Girls for 1956, Jet Magazine, January 5, 1956

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#38 Why Blacks Switched Allegiance to Eisenhower, Jet Magazine, November 22, 1956

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#39 Lois McGee is One of the Blacks Who Want to Be Indians, Jet Magazine, December 5, 1957

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#40 Delores Saunders, Jet Magazine, January 16, 1958

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#41 Isabelle Cooley, Jet Magazine, December 25, 1958

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#42 Joann Ransom, The Girl Who Had To Hide Her Race, Jet Magazine, May 1, 1958

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#43 Lynn Jordan Models the Chemise for the Beach, Jet Magazine, June 5, 1958

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#44 Pretty Coed Barbara Roberts, Jet Magazine, January 30, 1958

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#45 Versatile Teenager, Jet Magazine, May 15, 1958

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