black beauty pageant queens
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Halle Berry Is Related to Sarah Palin But Says Political Pundit, Personality Is ‘Not Invited to the Cookout’
While some of us believe we got Indian in our families, most of surely have fools swinging off the trees. When it comes to Oscar winner Halle Berry, the latter is certainly the case. And she knows it to. The Monsters’ Ball beauty recently threw some shade to her distant relative — Sarah Palin. While…
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Look Back At It: Forget the 53 Percent—This Was the Decade of #BlackGirlMagic
Recently, my brethren here at The Root made a healthy argument for how white women have spent the decade between 2010 and 2019 “doing the most” (and the least)—and to a certain extent, they’re right. But as The Root’s editor of all things black woman-related, I’d like to pose a counterargument. Though the storied 53…
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But Wait, There’s Yet Another Black Beauty Queen to Celebrate This Year!
This year has been a groundbreaking one for black women in the world of beauty pageants—a forum that sparks understandable and ongoing debate about its enduring relevance and impact on beauty standards. Nevertheless, the pageant world’s definition of beauty has been visibly expanding, as evidenced by the crowning of four black women in internationally recognized…
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Better Together: As If It Isn’t Great Enough That the Top Pageant Winners Are All Black Women, Two of Them Are Now Roommates!
Who says women can’t both compete and be close friends? After a momentous and historic win for Miss South Africa Zozibini Tunzi at the 2019 Miss Universe pageant on Sunday, fellow competitor Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst, celebrated both her own Top 10 and the fact that all four top worldwide pageant titles are currently held…
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Black Girl Magic Wins Again! South Africa’s Zozibini Tunzi Is Miss Universe 2019
“Tonight a door was opened and I could not be more grateful to have been the one to have walked through it,” Miss Universe 2019, Zozibini Tunzi, told the media after her triumphant win on Sunday night (h/t BBC News). “May every little girl who witnessed this moment forever believe in the power of her…
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Here’s How I Went From Detroit Science Geek to NYC Pageant Chic—and Scored a Win for Heart Health Awareness
Like most science nerds, I’ve always been a little more “geek” than “chic”—unibrow and all. I’m an introverted, quiet girl by nature; I overthink pretty much everything. But three months before I packed up my big stack of books (and small wardrobe) and made the move from my hometown of Detroit to New York City…
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Royalty in Our DNA: A New Crop of Magazine Covers Make Us Majestic
A pair of ruffed pages; three queens; a member of modeling royalty…as the October and November magazine covers made their debut, we were delighted to see blackness front, center and regal, as we should be. Vogue placed Jaden and Willow Smith and supermodel Jourdan Dunn atop its Italian and British covers, respectively, while Essence paid…
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Making Miss Black America: As the Pageant Turns 50, an Early Contestant Looks Back
When Oprah Winfrey represented her home state of Tennessee in the Miss Black America pageant in 1971, she was part of a pioneering group of young women daring to define beauty on their own terms. In fact, the pageant, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, was launched in protest of the Miss America pageant,…
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Beauty Beats Brexit: Heptathlete Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers Is the 1st Black Miss Universe Great Britain
Here’s what you call a game-changer: For the first time in its 66-year history, Miss Universe Great Britain—the qualifying pageant for the Miss Universe competition—gave the crown to a black woman. But the history-making honor didn’t go to your average pageant queen; winner Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers is a heptathlete with a head full of gorgeous locs,…