Miss Black America

The Miss Black America pageant is a competition for young African American women in areas such as speech, talent, style, and poise — it is essentially the black version of the popular Miss America pageant. In 2009 the pageant had its "kick off" in Washington, D.C. to rebrand the competition after 40 years. The first teen winner was Ashley Anglin. The first runner up teen was Monet Jackson, a resident of Mitchellville, MD, and Destiny Welch second runner up also a MD resident. The adult winner was DC native and MD resident, Miss Kamilla Collier-Mullin. The first runner up Miss Cherie A. Bryant a northern Virginia resident and the second runner up Miss Janesia Simmons in the adult pageant.

History

Originally a local Philadelphia area contest to protest the lack of black women in the Miss America pageant, J. Morris Anderson created and produced the Miss Black America Pageant on August 17, 1968 at the Ritz-Carlton in Atlantic City.^[1] With support from Phillip H. Savage, Tri-State Director of the NAACP, the pageant received nationwide press coverage as a protest against the Miss America Pageant, an event that Mr. Savage and other NAACP leaders had long condemned for exclusion of black women contestants.

The winners

See also

• Miss Black USA Pageant

External links

• Official Website

References