Black Stars was a monthly magazine published by the Johnson Publishing Company, one of the largest African-American-owned publishing firms in the United States. Launched in 1971, the purpose of Black Stars was to provide an entertainment magazine focused almost solely on the careers of living black artists.
In their premier issue John H. Johnson outlined the aims of the magazine:
“Black Stars will be entertaining, informative, factual, intimate and lively and will deal almost exclusively with the lives and careers of great, living black entertainers. Many of the articles featured in the magazine will be written by the stars themselves.”
In publication ceased in 1981, according to the then vice-president of the publishing company, June A. Rhinehart, this was due to a drop in readership and decrease in advertising revenues. Here below is a set of amazing photos that shows covers of the Black Stars in the 1970s.