miss america
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Vanessa Williams Finally Speaks on Her Near Career-Ending Nude Photo Scandal After 40 Years
The singer, actress and model is on the latest cover of PEOPLE Magazine.
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Miss Black America Pageant Returning to Spotlight. Do We Still Need it, Though?
The competition was created as a response to the racially prejudiced Miss America pageant in 1968.
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Once Again, a Black Woman Has Been Crowned Miss USA
Kentucky journalist Elle Smith will be the third consecutive Black American queen to compete for Miss Universe—only 6 months after her first pageant.
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Vanessa Williams Reflects on How She Worked Through Miss America Backlash: ‘I Think Was I Really Centered in Knowing…Who I Am’
Despite the unfair treatment, the Grammy-nominated singer has continued to garner success over the years.
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Triple Crowns: For the First Time, America's Top Pageant Winners Are All Black Women
With the crowning of Cheslie Kryst as Miss USA last night, a trio of black women have now claimed the crowns in three major beauty pageants, including Miss America and Miss Teen USA. Kryst, a 28-year-old attorney from Charlotte, N.C., works on behalf of prison inmates, and as CNN reports, gave a sterling answer to…
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This Is (Miss) America: New Yorker Nia Franklin Takes the Crown in Revamped Beauty Pageant
Here she is, Miss America 2.0. On Sunday night, Miss New York, Nia Imani Franklin, became the first woman to wear the crown of Miss America after the competition underwent some much-needed (and much-publicized) changes, including cutting its controversial swimsuit competition. As USA Today reports, Franklin wowed the judges—and audiences watching the pageant live in…
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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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Sink or Swim? A Former Miss America Contestant Weighs In on the End of the Swimsuit Competition
When we heard the announcement last Tuesday that, after years of criticism, the Miss America Organization had decided to abandon its controversial swimsuit competition, we wondered if it might be a case of “too little, too late” in the pageant’s attempt to appeal to a new era of feminism. “We are no longer a pageant,”…
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Miss America Pageant Decides to Stop Focusing on Appearance
Physical appearance will reportedly no longer be a determining factor for Miss America contestants: The pageant will no longer feature a swimsuit or evening gown competition, in hopes of being more inclusive of women of all sizes. Gretchen Carlson, chairwoman of the Miss America board of directors, made the announcement on Good Morning America on…