Barbara Summers (September 6, 1944 – November 2014)
Something About the Author. 2008. Retrieved May 30, 2015, from Encyclopedia.com.[Steve]
Pictures of Beautiful Women, October 24, 2014. was an American writer and educator who had also had a long and successful career as a fashion model, working for 17 years with
Ford Models
Ford Models, originally the Ford Modeling Agency, is an American international modeling agency based in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford.
Company
Ford Models was started in 1946 by Eileen ...
, one of America's top agencies.
["Skin Deep: Inside the world of Black fashion models"]
at Amazon. Her 1998 book, ''Skin Deep'' – the story of Black models in America and abroad – is a definitive work on black women in the modeling industry.
Pictures of Beautiful Women, January 26, 2010. for which she spent more a decade interviewing fashion professionals on three continents to record their experiences,
Biography
Education and career
Barbara Gene Summers was born in
Springfield, Mass., to Don and Lucy Summers, the second of her parents' five children.
["Obituary: A Life Journey – Barbara Summer"]
Carole D. Fredericks Foundation, Inc. In her own words: "My wonderful, hard-working father used to call me Daughter #2. He and my mother had 4 girls before their one and only son arrived."
[Barbara Summers page]
at Amazon.com. She grew up in
Hartford, Connecticut, where her family moved in 1949.
She graduated from Weaver High School in 1963
and then went to the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, where she earned a B.A. degree. She subsequently did graduate studies at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
and then the
University of Paris at the Sorbonne,
where she "promptly became a grad school dropout and a lifelong Francophile".
After living in Paris, she moved to
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
and
Haiti, staying there for several years
with her husband Marc Albert and their son.
Back in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, she began her career as a model while working as a college instructor, and she latterly returned to academia, teaching at
Hostos Community College
Eugenio María de Hostos Community College of The City University of New York is a public community college in the South Bronx, New York City. It is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system and was created by an act of the Board o ...
in the
Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
.
As a writer and editor, she published works including ''I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America'' (1989), ''Nouvelle Soul: Short Stories'' (1992), ''The Price You Pay'' (a novel set in the world of modeling, 1993), ''Skin Deep: Inside the World of Black Fashion Models'' (1998), ''Black and Beautiful: How Women of Color Changed the Fashion Industry'' (2001), and ''Open the Unusual Door: True-Life Stories of Challenge, Adventure, and Success by Black Americans'' (2005). Her most notable writing is her 1998 book ''Skin Deep'', which explores the role of
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
models within the fashion industry and the emergence of black designers, and "presents a fascinating portrait of black supermodels",
including profiles of
Dorothea Towles,
Beverly Johnson
Beverly Ann Johnson (born October 13, 1952) is an American model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. Johnson rose to fame when she became the first African-American model to appear on the cover of American ''Vogue'' in August 1974. In 1975, Jo ...
,
Iman,
Barbara Cheeseborough, and others. The book was described in ''
The Crisis
''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Mi ...
'' as "an amazingly comprehensive history ... an inspiring read and a delight to own."
Summers wrote of herself: "In the surprising adventure that is my life, I have been a Ford fashion model, a world traveler, a teacher, a writer and editor, a lover, wife, and mother, a sister to several, a good friend to many. I define myself as an artist. Artists are charged with the special responsibility not just to speak truth but to sing it. I believe: *We are all related - literally. *While politicians, terrorists, and maniacs of power strive mightily to prove otherwise, war is not the answer. Love is."
She died unexpectedly in 2014 at the age of 70.
Personal life
Barbara Summers' son is the animator/producer Kimson Albert.
She was also survived by her sisters, Lucy Summers and Dona Carter, and brother Don Summers, her elder sister Sandy Head having predeceased her.
Bibliography
* (Editor)
Brian Lanker, ''I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America'', New York:
Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1989.
* ''Nouvelle Soul: Short Stories'', New York:
Amistad, 1992.
* ''The Price You Pay'' (novel), New York: Amistad, 1993.
* ''Skin Deep: Inside the World of Black Fashion Models'', New York: Amistad, 1998.
* ''Black and Beautiful: How Women of Color Changed the Fashion Industry'', New York: Amistad, 2001.
* (Editor and author of introduction) ''Open the Unusual Door: True-Life Stories of Challenge, Adventure, and Success by Black Americans'', Boston, MA: Graphia, 2005.
"Open the Unusual Door : True Life Stories of Challenge, Adventure, and Success by Black Americans"
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt website.
References
External links
"Model/author Barbara Summers"
Pictures of Beautiful Women, January 26, 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, Barbara
1944 births
2014 deaths
20th-century African-American women
20th-century African-American writers
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American women writers
21st-century African-American people
21st-century African-American women
African-American female models
African-American models
African-American novelists
African-American women writers
American book editors
American female models
Hostos Community College faculty
Novelists from Massachusetts
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Writers from Springfield, Massachusetts