The death of Hugh Hefner means different things to different people. In some eyes, he's an icon, who ushered in a sexual revolution. To others his legacy is built on the bodies of women and misogyny. Certainly, many of his non-editorial activities were questionable as well.
But in one important realm, Hefner was undeniably progressive. Over many decades and in many ways, he used his platform and wallet to challenge race-based stereotypes and push forward racial justice.
"I felt from a very early age that there were things in society that were wrong, and that I might play some small part in changing them," Hefner said to CBS Los Angeles in 2011. Indeed, he did.
Playboy may have become famous for the high-quality nudes of beautiful women, but the men's magazine had a long history of publishing black writers and thinkers. In the first-ever interview conducted in its pages, Alex Haley spoke to Miles Davis. Hefner said that in the 1962 interview Davis "didn’t talk so much about music, he talked about wishes and equality."
As in all of Haley's work, racial justice was at the forefront with his Davis interview, and that tradition continued through his other work for the magazine. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s longest print interview appeared in the magazine in January 1965. Hefner's son, Cooper Hefner, told the Telegraph, "that the last article ever written by Martin Luther King before his assassination was published in Playboy. He added "that a special edition was published in Braille for Ray Charles."
Before "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," changed lives, Haley first interviewed Malcolm X in Playboy. The writer also interviewed Muhammad Ali, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Brown and Quincy Jones for the magazine.
As Jemele Hill tweeted today and many echo: "I read Playboy for the articles. Seriously." Playboy demonstrated how the deliberate and thoughtful journalism and space for black writers continues to be a priority when last June, Playboy hosted an interview between sports journalist and activist Bomani Jones and author Ta-Nahisi Coates.
Hefner also featured black artists on his TV programs as far back as 1959. The Civil Rights Act did not pass until 1964, so race-based discrimination was not just alive, but legal at the time. Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Tina Turner, all appeared on Hefner's various Playboy shows over the years, bringing black faces into homes across the country.
Black models showed up in the pages of Playboy, too. In 1965, Jennifer Jackson was the magazine's first black playmate of the month. More history was made in 1971, when Darine Stern became the first black model to pose for the cover, rocking nudity and an afro. While, yes, the majority of centerfold and models have been and continue to be white, Hefner offered a more colorful vision of the feminine ideal than many.
In 1961, comedian Dick Gregory performed at the Playboy Club in Chicago in front of an all-white audience. Invited by Hefner, Gregory said he was paid five times the wages he was getting at the time. Three years later, Gregory would again work with Hefner, this time on something far more serious.
The publisher donated $25,000 to use as a reward in helping Gregory uncover the bodies of slain civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner. Hefner said he was also instrumental in funding Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Hefner's attention and advocacy for civil rights was telling of his understanding of the reach and power of popular culture. As Keli Goff of The Daily Beast writes, "Hefner deftly used culture and his pocketbook to help transform the way underrepresented groups are viewed and, as we are seeing right now, culture is often the battlefield on which America’s ideological wars are fought." Black entertainers, artists and writers had a stage, but white readers also had access to often radical ideas and people through Playboy.
Hugh Hefner's legacy — like almost anyone's — is complicated. He was undoubtedly compromised and limited in many aspects of his life. Praise for him can't be, and shouldn't be, all encompassing.
But when it came to racial equality, Hefner was ahead of the pack, listening to and amplifying black voices well before social justice became mainstream. At the very least, Hef deserves credit for that.
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