( CNN ) -- Naomi Sims , one of the world 's first black supermodels , has died at the age of 61 after a battle with breast cancer , according to her family . Naomi Sims became an icon of the `` Black is Beautiful '' movement with her modeling . Alex Erwiah , her brother-in-law , said Sims died Saturday in Newark , New Jersey . Sims was a teenager from Oxford , Mississippi , when she broke fashion industry color barriers on New York runways in 1967 . She became an icon of the `` Black is Beautiful '' movement after she appeared on the cover of Ladies ' Home Journal magazine in November 1968 . She later graced the covers of Time , Cosmopolitan , McCall 's , Life and many other magazines . Audrey Smaltz was a fashion editor at Ebony magazine when she became Sims ' friend . `` She demanded attention , '' Smaltz said . `` She would walk into a room and people would come to a stop . People would go , 'Oh , my God , look at that person . ' `` Essence : Images of Naomi Sims . Smaltz said Sims ' success as a model `` started the whole whites accepting blacks , '' paving the way for others , including Beverly Johnson . `` They had so many fabulous black models in the '70s , '' Smaltz said . `` It was our heyday , and Naomi made that way for the rest of the girls to come along . '' Sims quit modeling in 1973 , saying she was bored and disenchanted with the use of racial quotas in the fashion industry . `` If they use you , it 's because you 're Black , '' she said in the biography posted on her personal Web site . Sims married in 1973 and soon gave birth to a son , Robert . She launched a successful wig collection targeted at African-American women in 1976 , followed by a cosmetics line in 1986 . Sims wrote several books focused on beauty , health and career advice for African-American women .
Naomi Sims was one of first black supermodels . Sims was on notable covers of Ladies ' Home Journal in 1968 , many other magazines . She paved way for magazines such as Beverly Hills , a biography magazine .