Event created by richardmurray
This event began 01/14/2025 and repeats every year forever
Congrats to Black contestants in Miss America - January 14th 2025
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11420-the-miss-usa-pageant-the-surprising-number-of-black-contestants-2024/#findComment-71146
THE ORIGINAL POST STARTED BY CHEVDOVE @Chevdove
IF YOU DONT WANT TO CLICK THE COMMENT ABOVE OR GO TO THE ORIGINAL POST ...
the following is the most well known black only female pageant in the usa
https://www.missblackamerica.com/
the wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Black_America
what it needs is more money. This event has been going on for 55 years in a row. You can't complain about regular black folks making it happen, it was regular black folks who did. It wasn't black thespians or singers. It started in 1968 and not by diana ross or aretha franklin or cicely tyson.
Year Miss Black America Hometown and/or home state
1968 Saundra Williams Pennsylvania
1969 Gloria O. Smith New York
1970 Stephanie Clark DC
1971 Joyce Warner Florida
1972 Linda Barney New Jersey
1973 Arniece Russell New York
1974 Von Gretchen Shepard Los Angeles, California
1975 Donzeila Johnson Pennsylvania
1976 Twanna Kilgore Washington, D.C.
1977 Claire Ford Memphis, Tennessee
1978 Lydia Jackson Willingboro, New Jersey
1979 Varetta Shankle Mississippi
1980 Sharon Wright Chicago, Illinois
1981 Pamela Jenks Boston, Massachusetts
1982 Susan Wells Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1983 Sonya Robinson Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1984 Lydia S.Garrett Columbia, South Carolina
1985 Amina Fakir Detroit, Michigan
1986 Rachel Oliver Burlington, North Carolina
1987 Leila McBride Denver, Colorado
1988 Regina Wallace Florida
1989 Paula Gwynn Washington DC
1990 Rosie Jones Bridgeport, Connecticut
1991 Sharmell Sullivan Gary, Indiana
1992 Marilyn DeShields Virginia, Richmond
1994 Pilar Fort Detroit, Michigan
1995 Karen D. Wallace Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
1996 Basheerah Ahmad Choctaw, Oklahoma
2010 Ashley Anglin-Teen DC Metropolitan
2010 Kamilla Collier-Mullin, Adult DC Metropolitan
2010 Natasha Ashby - Teen Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2010 Donielle Turner, Adult Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2014 Alexandra Morton, Adult Baltimore, Maryland
2015 Jelisa Barringer, Adult Ohio
2016 Nicole Lynette Hibbert, Adult Delaware
2017 Brittany Lewis, Adult District of Columbia
2018 Ryann Richardson, Adult Brooklyn, New York
2022 Gabrielle Wilson, Adult Los Angeles, California
2023 Ashley Myatt, Adult Detroit, Michigan
2023 Elizabeth Dicker, Senior Newark, New Jersey
01/15/2026
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79347
For more information please view and read the following
https://www.missblackamerica.com/
from 1968, here are some recent winners
If you know any black women, please share this with them, please
if you have questions you can contact them?
https://www.missblackamerica.com/contact
if you want to help
https://www.missblackamerica.com/donations
Troy they have an author's expos, I don't have the money but I imagine you do.
https://www.missblackamerica.com/author-s-expo-page
pdf info
Sponsorship form
https://www.missblackamerica.com/sop-delegate-sponsorship
Are you the next Miss Black America?
Registration Now Open- Click The Following https://www.missblackamerica.com/pageant-registry
Little Miss Black America (7-12)
Miss Black America Teen (13-16)
Miss Black America (17-29)
Ms. Black America (29-54)
Senior Miss Black America (55 and Over).
All Age Groups, All Ages,
Register Today
Queens from seven (7) years old and over.
REGISTRATION DETAILS- no excuse for black dos women to enter
Pageant Registration
All Across the World We Are Beautiful!
You can be a Contestant in the next MBA Pageant TV Special!
Are you between the age of 17-29?
Or, are you a Miss Black America Teen between the ages of 13 -16?
A Little Miss Black America between the ages of 7-12?
Or a Senior Miss Black America who is 55+?
Complete the form at the link below
https://www.missblackamerica.com/pageant-registry
*Adults 17-29 Must be a High School Graduate or its Equivalent at the time of the National Pageant, MBA Teens must be Middle or High School students*
Miss Black America Pageant Positivity Cruise - February 14th, through February 22nd, 2026
1/15/2026
citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79364
comment
Posted just now
@Pioneer1
1 hour ago, Pioneer1 said:
Not to take this thread in another direction but............
From the photos i have seen every winner of the Miss Black America pageant has been a black woman of medium to dark brown skin. Now I haven't seen photos of every winner. I haven't seen photos of every contestant.
But the direction you have taken this post about uplifting a black owned beauty pageant has many questions, you didn't provide answers for when you shifted directions.
1. How do you define actual Black ? You mentioned "actual Black" but don't give a clear definition of how can be determined actual Black. Moreover why should the operators of Miss Black America adhere to such a definition?
For example, if a woman with with two parents from india born in NYC with skin asians will call very dark, which is equivalent to what people in the USA call black, which is common among many Indian people, wants to run for Miss Black America, does she fit what you mean by Black? From a phenotypical perspective, said example woman is Black.
Here are three images of kalo or black , indian females, older woman, young woman, child. All three are black. I don't know if habshi, which is the equivalent to Descended of Enslaved. Cause some ancestral indian people are black. Like some ancestral statian people, native americans, are black. Native Americans from southern tribes, the caribbean, are phenotypically black and not african. So I know you know your thoughts and definitions but you have to display them. If for no other reason it makes the multilog easier, unless you want to argue.
2. How do you define not-black or mixed? You mentioned " non-Black and mixed people" but don't give a clear definition to either term. Is mixed by phenotype, skin color ? is mixed by phenotype of ancestors? If mixed is by phenotype of ancestors, is it a one drop rule or is it a just immediate parents?
For example, this is Fredi Washington. Who played the Peola character in the earliest film version of "immitation of life". She called herself black. She rejected hollywoods desire to have her lie about her background and claim she is white. And lived most of her life as a maid/nurse in Harlem. She definitely looked mixed. I call people like her yella. She is definitely more yella than Beyonce or Hally Berry or Dorothy Dandridge. And arguably even more yella than Hailee Steinfeld which says a lot. But she is black to me. From your definition she is mixed, so she couldn't apply for Miss Black America, correct?
3. Are you suggesting each candidate must be a citizen of the USA? I didn't read the rules of entry so I don't know how citizenship fits in Miss Black America. But a Black woman from Africa is Black so if she lives in the USA, why can't she run? Maybe she needs to be a USA citizen. I argue that is an even requirement, but is it mandatory?
1 hour ago, Pioneer1 said:
Too often you have non-Black and mixed people who "back door" their way into these events and end up being hoisted over and on top of the actual Black participants.
This is nothing but a product of self-hatred.
Looking at a woman who is obviously not Black or looks like she's almost White...and calling HER "the most beautiful" woman in the community.
One of my biggest problems with Beyonce wasn't Beyonce herself...but how she was often glorified as a symbol of "Black" female beauty.
Whenever the subject of comparing female celebrities by race, Whites and Latinos would promote the women they thought were the most beautiful but when it came to Black people.....a lot of bruthaz would promote women like Beyonce or Halle Berry back in the day.
Women who obviously weren't Black.
A lot of pro-FBA podcasters are promoting lightskinned women as "ideal" models for who an FBA is or what an FBA looks like.
They're pushing Beyonce and Angel Reese.
Expand
You didn't mention Hailee Steinfield. But, the issues you mention here are not about the participants but the organizers of events. The organizers of events aren't being self haters, the organizers of events are doing what you did in your reply, not be concise or specific in definitions. Expecting everyone else to somehow know what they are thinking or how they define. That isn't functional. If you wanted to block out certain black women... or any women, all you have to do is make the rules clear. But if the rules don't block out certain women from running then why shouldn't they run.
And as for the host of events or people whether black or non black, no matter their language or background, who have a positive bias towards the phenotype called white and a negative phenotype called blacks , black people who produce/pay for events need to know who they are hosting or if non blacks are producing, what can you expect from the host of a non black show but adulation to non black beauty even if the show is labeled for black beauty cause the owners are not black.
When you organize an event it is up to you to be clear, concise on definitions, not the people entering.
01/16/2026
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79388
@aka Contrarian
12 hours ago, aka Contrarian said:
If Halle Berry and Beyonce self identify as ,"black" because one of their parents is black, then that's good enough for me and millions of other people who accept their decision.
They are women of color and the source of the color contained in their genes and DNA is a male negroid parent. ( just like Obama, our first black president. )
Nobody in America has been appointed as the arbitrator when it comes to declaring what constitutes blackness. Because there is no collective consciousness among negroid slave-descended Americans, there is no consensus on this issue and no individual can declare otherwise.
well said.
and all I can add is, this post was started with the purpose to uplift Miss Black America and by extension other Black Pagents, like Miss Black USA, thank you @Chevdove
The purpose of this post was never to create or debate an absolute definition of who is a black woman in the usa.
@Pioneer1 chose to segway from talking about miss black america, for which he had nothing to add, into talking about people in media, black or non black, whose job it is to get views/likes/attention and how they succeed by maintaining a consistency in narrative that suggest the most beautiful black women in the world happen to be black women with a certain phenotype, as close to a white european womans' as can be.
the problem being, the black pagents seem to have found a way through their rules to elevate black women who do not fit the identity of women championed in the media pioneer is so concerned with.
While the people in the media pioneer is so concerned with are working in a white owned space, the opposite of the black owned of the black beauty pageants.
So... your correct, Contrarian, but the issue of this post is uplifting the black beauty pageant and it is unfortunate how little uplifting was achieved. It says something about black discourse online, we are too concerned with arguments online.
01/18/2026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79451
@Pioneer1
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
Your response actually did that....lol.
nice try, you changed the course
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
my opinion organizations and contests like this should be used to UPLIFT Black women and improve their self esteem and especially the self esteem of Black girls growing up in this society.
How can this be done if an organization/contest routinely uplifts and promotes females who don't look like them as role models they should aspire to?
organizations and contest liek this do, the people you referred to are media people, none of them run pageants or anything similar
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
Race is phenotypical...but is more than JUST skin color.
race is any factor, phenotypical is just one
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
I'd call her Caucasian/White...lol.
even enough but fredi washington didn't, and more importantly, to the idea of beauty , we black dosers have to embrace our reality. We are a people who were once completely enslaved, that comes with a history of sexual abuse that leads to mixed babies, and the heritage of DOSers in the usa is for the mixed to be part of the black group. That is the heritage. rightly or wrongly.
Now to the future, it seems the latin american pardo/casta heritage is settling in the usa, and will finally be the factor to undo what the one drop rule set in. but until then, the yella woman is black.
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
How can someone who is NOT an American even enter let alone "win" a contest designed FOR Americans?????
what determines a black american isn't universallly defined by blacks. the issue pioneer is you keep missing the lack of consensus, means every black in the usa doesn't see anything in one way.
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
So how can a person not FROM here properly represent the beauty of those native here?
natives? you mean choctaw or seminole?
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
If we're having a contest for the best tasting Chinese food.....would you bring tasty TACOS to the contest?
since chinese food in the usa is not actually chinese cusiine from asia, and has more in common with tacos why not?
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
It's like having an athletic event for women without first defining WHO a woman actually is.
yeah but that happens in the usa, because this country is the king f lawsuits which kill events. and that is because the usa protects individualism and individualism by default means no one's definition is ever correct. a trasngender woman can sue to be in a contest for humans born with a vagina. You say short sighted, but I argue, an inevitable reality of the usa. you see this in the white populace, it is a pan statian reality
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
ine WHO is Black, then soon you'll have White contestants being presented as "Black" and winning them to promote the idea that White skin, light hair, and light eyes are the most beautiful traits to be found among "Black" people.
I call it the "Beyonce Effect"
Where people who aren't Black are promoted as the "ideal Black".
I disagree 100% , again miss black america or miss black usa prove you wrong. In media things that black people/dosers actually own or control in the usa I find the advertised image of black women is usually not upheld through the lens of the yella women but through the cocoa women. but both are still black.
And as for all the black or non blacks in white owned media who emphasize the yella women over the cocoa women in the black populace, well, that is white owned media.
10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
Perhaps you are confusing healthy DISCOURSE with DISCORD.
even enough, though I rather posit I am being too demanding to the tone or function of discourse.
@aka Contrarian
7 hours ago, aka Contrarian said:
Seems to me, the closest thing to a typical black Miss America candidate who would not offend anyone would be a poised female of smooth medium brown complexion with a full well- coiffed head of dark hair whose facial features are arranged in compliance with the universal golden triangle standard, and whose body is well-proportioned.
miss america is run by whites...
miss black america + miss black usa are run by blacks and i don't think any of their winners or contestants are offensive. I know I am not alone in said thinking.
7 hours ago, aka Contrarian said:
Actually, however, I think role models are overrated. Why do little girls have to look to public figures to emulate. And do we know if this is as widespread a sentiment as celebrities clutching awards would have us believe? Ideally, a girl's mother or other female relative should be her role model.
And I'm further inclined to think that her peer group is who most young girls want to impress because that was the case with me and my friends.
I never fixated on celebrities as somebody I passionately wanted to look like. My friends and I just wanted to be the best versions of ourselves.
So says the cynical contrarian
unfortunately the media of the usa has become such a marketplace + battleground+ tool that it has grown in influence.
And some little girls are orphans, some little girls are abused by their blood kin, some little girls don't find enough of themselves in those at home. the reason a little girl can find inspiration worth emulating are many.
Ideally a little girl should be raised by her parents or the greater village to be herself, and figure out her role, not model off of anyone.
Interesting, I never wanted to impress anybody as a child.I only had one poster of a human figure on my wall.
1/18/2026
CITATION
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79474
@aka Contrarian
On 1/18/2026 at 10:36 AM, aka Contrarian said:If we lived in a perfect world, none if these bumps in the road would hamper one's life's journey.
I oppose that thinking , the word is perfect, a complete work, ompletion doesn't occur when all is good, that is imbalance. negativity must be part of anything for it to be truly perfect.
On 1/18/2026 at 10:36 AM, aka Contrarian said:
Folks need to be reminded on a regular basis that "nobody promised you a rose garden".
At some point little girls and boys have to mature into adults who deal with reality. Life is not fair.
life is even, it is human beings who are not even. It is human beings that make living uneven plus inequal. it isn't nature or other lifeforms.
Nature promises balance. Humans beings imbalance.
01/19/2026
CITATION
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79483
osted just now
@aka Contrarian
13 hours ago, aka Contrarian said:
no, right or wrong is not knowable in this issue, but maybe functionality is. Functionality defined as the quality of results.
Does thinking a perfect world mean all is good get more positive results than thinking a perfect world includes all things?
Does thinking a perfect world is an unattainable environment which humans have to embrace get more positive results than defining the perfect world as the world that is absent human involvement, which imperfects the world?
1/19/2026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79487
Posted just now
@aka Contrarian
1 hour ago, aka Contrarian said:
In a perfect world, as the adjective "perfect" suggests, there are no problems. Life is ideal.
You are free to challenge that definition, but you can't prove otherwise.
So, we have to agree to disagree.
perfect comes from the latin
per- meaning totally, ala perview is when something is viewed totally absent any part not viewed
fect - means work.
A total work has all in it. Perfect never suggest an absence. Problems are part of what makes the world whole, are part of the total world, absent problems the world can't be perfect, a total work.
What you call ideal, a thing of an idea, in not perfect. It is the idea of a world without problems, that is not a perfect world, that is an ideal world, an imbalanced world.
I have etymologically proven my position.
I have always opposed the USA heritage derived from the english of using words figuratively. It weakens all words.
We do like each other, as much as near total strangers can. We do not concur on definition.
1 hour ago, aka Contrarian said:
I am in the throes of disappointment over the CHICAGO BEARS, my favorite football team, losing a game they could've won, but for the coach calling questionable plays and the receivers either missing their assignments or dropping the passes from my "adopted" baby boy, Quarterback Caleb Williams, so I don't feel like plowing through a maze of verbiage to further debate the implications of a perfect world.
I'm mentally exhausted.
if you have a video collage of sweetness running about, give it a view and lift your spirits
1/19/2026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79492
osted just now
@aka Contrarian
1 hour ago, aka Contrarian said:
@richardmurrayI prefer the dictionary definition of the word "perfect" which you might want to check out.
I know of it, I have always felt the heritage webster started in the anglophone and unstraightly all humanity was an error. His implementation of a book of speaking based on figurative definitions was the beginning of a literal horror show in linguistics, cause now throughout humanity, most, an overhwhelming most, preference to the idea f figurative definition which only harms the positive quality in communication.
I wish someone black with money with my thinking had been around circa 1865 in the usa cause black people in the usa had a unique opportunity to have a much wiser sense of diction but.. it wasn't meant to be.
1 hour ago, aka Contrarian said:
And I assure you that watching old reels of Walter Payton in action will not lift my spirits about yesterday's loss.
Unfortunate, I hope you feel better sooner rather than later
1/19/2026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79494
d just now
@aka Contrarian
1 hour ago, aka Contrarian said:
I am not so inclined to dismiss popular usage. Language is fluid. Nothing illustrates this more than black slang and Ebonics.
If you had your way, what word would you replace "perfect" with? Or are you of the opinion that any such state as perfection exists?
Your sentiments in regard to Webster would explain your tendency to make up words.
It is rare i do the following but I will paraphrase the white enslavers commonly called the founding fathers, concerning the peoples use of things: the people are stupid.
Yeah black slang and ebonics while black people let the gullah dialect become endangered, the patios of new orleans be the same. Black people emphasize slangs we made, which are very figurative over , literally more potent forms like the gullah dialect or the patois of new orleans or florida.
It is a taste thing, admittedly.
Well, what word would I replace perfect with in the following phrase you wrote "In a perfect world, as the adjective "perfect" suggests, there are no problems. Life is ideal."
I would replace two words: a and perfect and make adjustments to the following "In my ideal world, no problems exist"
In a world I have an idea to no problems exist. Perfect meant a total work. As the zen say, it is the sunny side of the hill side the shady side of the hill. Problems must be in the world for it to be total.
Yes, oonmoptopia I spelled it wrong. It's funny when webster was a boy, in england, people couldn't comprehend each other in various regions of england because their diction was so various. This was the same in france or germany. Meaning when webster was a boy there wasn't popular usage of words in england. every single region spoke differently in england, often incomprehensibel to each other. He comes up with this idea of a "standard" book of rules of words and speech for the english language. a dictionary for english. Dictionaries are as old as the royal bloodline of the nile, but never before were they advertised as a standard. And then with the advent of public school which wasn't common either in humanity. School historically was something paid for by individuals, it wasn't for the public , it wasn't for all. but with the idea of the public school plus dictionaries came what you call, very correctly, the popular majority usage of certain words certain ways as de facto official. Webster himself, made up words:) but post webster, now we have popular usage. So, yes I don't feel obliged to adhere to webster. But I want to defend my individualism, I am not looking for a flock. I simply admit myself. The popular usage will remain, will be adhered, but I don't care if I am alone with 999,999 other people I will be my way.
1/19/2026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79500
2 hours ago, ProfD said:
Noah Webster did something i.e. fufilled a need. He codified the meaning of words.
Black folks are free to do the same thing if they want to preserve gullah, patois, ebonics or any other language & words.
Of the quote from Profd , I want it publicly said, I concur Webster did something. The rest of what Profd said I struck through as a lie or false praise or a misrepresentation of communal action.
THE FOLLOWING IS MY EXPANDED VERSION
@ProfD
On 1/19/2026 at 5:42 PM, ProfD said:Noah Webster did something i.e. fufilled a need. He codified the meaning of words
Well...doing something does not mean a need is fulfilled. It means a want is fulfilled. Humans beings have been codifying words since the time of the earliest leaders of the nile. I don't comprehend how Webster doing something thousands or millions did between the ancients about the Nile and Webster warrants mention. Dictionaries as I said to aka contrarian which you didn't quote sadfully, predate webster by thousands of years. Webster is key because in england the idea of schooling for the public had taken root, the first public schools were thousands of years before england, but with the advent of the english empire, the public school of england and the dictionary it used from webster was pushed on a global populace, adding the influence of the usa , the child of the english empire, english is the lingua franca today in humanity. this is a quote of what i said that you freely chose not to quote to make a half truth to webster.
On 1/19/2026 at 4:01 PM, richardmurray said:Meaning when webster was a boy there wasn't popular usage of words in england. every single region spoke differently in england, often incomprehensibel to each other. He comes up with this idea of a "standard" book of rules of words and speech for the english language. a dictionary for english. Dictionaries are as old as the royal bloodline of the nile, but never before were they advertised as a standard.
For my point which you disgard is that dictionaries shouldn't be used as standards. That is the truth. The reason why the ancients didn't was a thing called wisdom. Forcing a language to others is called slavery, and slavery doesn't work on rivals , so you can't relate to rivals forcing a tongue. ala why people in the usa say things, like, it is japanese.
On 1/19/2026 at 5:42 PM, ProfD said:Black folks are free to do the same thing if they want to preserve gullah, patois, ebonics or any other language & words.
I don't know if you know because your words I just quoted suggest you don't. Languages die throughout humanity all the time, including languages of those humans considered in power. It isn't about freedom. It is about a complex collage of things. Language use is a collective thing, it is not up to an individual, it is up to a group and it requires many people working together, which doesn't happen with a snap of a finger. Language preservation is centered on communal organization, not freedom. The negro spirituals are proof of this. Most black people couldn't read + were completely enslaved but knew the negro spirituals . This is why appalachian languages are dying among white people in the usa, gardless of white power. anyone looking at your words will think that preserving a language is like riding a bicycle, which i find insulting.
1/22/2026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79536
Posted just now
@Pioneer1
21 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
Now, how can I change the course of YOUR thread???
this forum is a place of discourse, each topic is started by one but the path need not stay on the topic started.
21 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
Just because mixed people are THROWN into the "Black" category by racists, that doesn't make it a scientific fact.
you use the word thrown, do you know all the people in your bloodline? you shouldn't if you are a DOSer, and if you are a DOSer then are you suggesting the people with a phenotype , you call mixed in 2026 who were completely enslave pre 1865 are what then?
21 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
Truth and facts aren't based on "consensus".
true , that is true, BUT not all things can be defined explicitly. phenotypical labeling can not be reduced into a numerical form. Carbon is called element six but carbon is merely a name. it isn't a false name, but if I call carbon fingerplus, that isn't invalidated because it has no consensus.
21 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
Is fire not hot unless enough people believe it and accept it to be?
but labeling someone black isn't explicit. Fire, all types of fire, come from chemical or physical reactions that generate a chemical reaction commonly called fire. But the name fire isn't explicit. In the same way, naming someone black isn't explicit. Fire like race is always real, but the labeling is not rigid, and you have prescribed the label black a specific way which is not bound by anyone else. Nor is my definition for black bound to anyone else. But both are real. And going beyond the two of us, it matters how the black group defines black.
21 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
It's changed recently.
I remember when the only media that gave dark skinned women their propers WERE the White media.
Well.. When you say recently, Miss Black America started 1968. Again , Alice was enslaved 1963.. Malcolm was murdered 1965, mlk jr was murdered 1968... You say recently? when exactly? My reason for asking what time period because for me, Jim Crow was 1865 to 1980. Financially I don't see black ownership in that time period in the usa. YES, MAdame CJ walker was in the 1930s. But black people owned businesses in the lands that made up the USA before the USA was founded. Look at the American Revolution transcripts, I can't remember which off the top of my head.
https://aalbc.com/tc/events/7-rmcommunitycalendar/week/2025-11-22/
Black owned media that could reach wide swaths of black people in the usa for me truly started from 1980 onwards. Every black town or city, or black neighborhood in a white city had local black owned media but none were strong enough to stretch across. Black Newspapers are black newspapers, newspapers don't usually do fashion, that is magazines. I know, I checked to makebsure, Ebony was started in 1945 and Jet was started in 1951 but most black people didn't have the money to buy jet or ebony. Jet or Ebony original audience was the black 1% so... when you say black media between 1865 and 1980, what do you mean? and as for white media? well how was white media treating any black woman properly? when you say propers, you mean dark skin women as maids? that is proper?
Yes, I am little confused by your statement.
21 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
For a long time Black media was pushing light skin and White featured as ideal with the occasional honey brown sista if she was pretty enough. The only time a real dark skinned sista could get on is if a White man though she was "exotic" looking enough.
And usually the dark skinned Black women they put on were from Africa or the West Indies...not the United States.
I clearly don't comprehend Black Media as you are using it. I need your help. What is Black Media to you? I ask because when you say black media, I don't think you see black media like I do. When I think black media I think black owned media, meaning the money or the producer is black. Black panther is not black media. it is white media with black people in it. BET is white owned, that is white media with black people in it. Black owned media is rare in the usa. BET was sold by a black man to whites, who then sold it to other whites, paramount to skydance. TVOne is black owned, by a black woman. I can't recall a black owned film production firm comparable to the likes of disney/paramount/warner bros et cetera. Like Obama being the black president of a white country. Black presence doesn't mean whites don't own or control. Black presence doesn't mean black people are enslaved to whites but it doesn't mean black people own or control.
You have made me think about this, if someone ask me , what is black media in the usa, throughout my life. I have very little to say.
I will brainstorm the following
BET for a very short time, so not BET.
Black Enterprise magazine, going strong.
I didn't know about miss black america or miss black usa to a mature adult, but going strong.
TVOne going strong.
The OWN network, though I don't know if Oprah actually owns the OWN network, so no OWN cause I am not certain.
Forty acres and a mule, spike lees production firm, though alot of his movies he doesn't majority finance,so I say no. I know Malcolm post production was financed by a collection of black people but the majority of production pre+filming was white. so , no forty acres and a mule
Milestone comics, but how much money did dwayne mcduffie and company actually provide. at the end of the day DC financed those comics so.. no milestone, and I love, Blood Syndicate. It is my favorite comic from the usa.
Amsterdam News, my local black newspaper, still going strng.
Harlem Week in NYC, still going strong but that is local
Jazzmobile, was once really great, but when billy taylor's spirit flew, that really reduced the vitality of jazzmobile, but it is still going on, albeit less potently.
a show like like it is was local but financed by ABC.
Killens Review is from MEdgar evers college, but again, Medgar evers gets alot of money as part of CUNY So white owned for me. it isn't a private college. and NYC, or NYS state's government is white, at least to me.
The Olmec company which made Sun man, but they closed down.
Ebony magazine or Jet MAgazine I admittedly, never saw my parents with an ebony or jet magazine. Some relatives would have them but it wasn't grandiose. and their firm went under and assets are owned by whites now to my knowledge, though I am not sure.
if I look at my life and what is black owned media in the usa, which is what I think of is Black Media, that I was aware of and still around.
Black Enterprise
Miss Black America+ Miss Black USA
TVOne
Amsterdam News
Harlem Week
Jazzmobile
independent local media efforts by blacks who had money at the time
So half of those things are local to me. all but two are regional, north east. Black enterprise or miss black america.
So, what region of the USA were you born in? Cause, the midwest and deep south have nothing in my view, even locally when it comes to black media. So..
I think dark skin black women locally in NYC have been very visible in local media. I remember many posters as a kid, local things, festivals fairs. That wouldn't reach far. Sun man was a toy but the audience was mostly NYC. So... What is black media to you ? Because once I comprehend how you view black media I can comprehend your statements better. In my life, white media is the dominant avenue for black presence in media, and I don't see any black presence in white media as indicative of anything black. Cosby show. Fresh prince of bel air. A number of those black romantic films. Yes, Black presence but we don't own those things. The truth is black people own very little in the usa, but again, that shouldn't be a financial shock if black people are honest about our financial history in the usa. Slavery + Jim Crow were very real. 1980 to 2026 is only forty six years and not even of financial opportunity but financial allowance. from 1492 to 1865, enslavement, and then 1865 to 1980, jim crow, the black populace was intentionally stopped or stymied by white power, by any means necessary, and the black populace had no violent means to stop it.
Now, I do argue black people needed to have a legal pro bono movement to somehow match all of the white crimes or illegalities against us by whites but that didn't happen.
01/23/2026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79566
Posted just now
@Troy
On 1/22/2026 at 9:40 PM, Troy said:
TLDR: but "beauty" pageants are a thing whose time has come and gone... and they really need to get rid of the ones featuring little girls.
Too long didn't read ... the multilog, ok:)
Well, I emailed the following to find out
https://www.pageantplanet.com/
But based on unverified statistics your wrong. Pageants have not come and gone. And I can see how. With the advent of robotic labor, a pageant is a thing a human must do that is competitive. Like human sports, human contest of physical beauty must involve, humans. Come and gone, i don't think so.
And with that role, the many pageants with little girls will remain.
The industry of pageants makes a lot of money, it will not go away because certain populaces distaste for them or the legal ramifications of the abuse in various instances.
@aka Contrarian thank you for your comment
1/24/2026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79578
@Troy
I was directed to the following location
https://www.pageantplanet.com/directory/category/pageant
I don't think pageants are even remotely dead or a thing whose time has "come and gone" . It is clear their time is now, even with all who oppose them. I argue that pageants need some sort of legal management.
1/24/2026
Citation
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79632
osted just now
@Troy
3 hours ago, Troy said:
I think they should disappear but we clearly disagree on this. What do you think about the idea of a beauty pageant for men. We'd get to prance around on a stage in our speedos being judged by a bunch of women.
Well, I don't oppose beauty pageants or support beauty pageants. My only desire is if beauty pageants exist, black owned ones exist. And black owned beauty pageants do exist so I am content. I have no concern to beauty pageants as a warranted or unwarranted thing. I am only concerned with black people owning beauty pageants if they are present, or a black person being able to own a beauty pageant if none other are present.
If the question is what do I think about someone black wanting to own a beauty pageant for men ? That is their business. I support them and I hope they gain whatever they want.
If you are asking me, if I will invest in a beauty pageant, female or male or other, if I had money to invest? the answer is no. and I have never wanted to be a model. I had neighbors once, a black couple, both strip models. They made great money and had huge fandoms, relatively. But none of that is for me.
If you want to know off the top of my head what I rather be doing.
I rather work on designing a boat and showing that off sailing it.
@ProfD
18 minutes ago, ProfD said:
Off the top of my head...we could come up the Alcoholic Olympics. An event where people get drunk & try to do various things in competition to win prizes & money.
isn't that reality tv shows?
1/26/2026
Citation
sted 3 minutes ago
@aka Contrarian
good point, mister universe is a beauty pageant, it isn't considered a beauty pageant for the connotative definition of beauty in the usa, which suggest beauty is homosexuality or femininity, not masculinity. But beauty is agender, And a pageant is merely an artful production, a page as in page of a book.
So literally, by literal definition, mister universe is as much a beauty pageant as miss america. It is only the poor use of language in the usa that suggests otherwise.
@ProfD + @Pioneer1
Good dialog between you two.
You both make excellent points.
Profd I think Pioneer point has value in that it alludes to black people with money, the black one percent, have financially assessed the market and didn't arrive with a positive result. I have witnessed offline first hand various black one percenters say they wouldn't do a certain fiscal enterprise because they didn't see it as financially feasible. Do I think with two black female beauty pageants in the usa , both at least over three decades old, a black male pageant in the usa can't work? no. But I do think it needs to be sold a certain way. And of course, the prizes matter. As a white person said on a documentary about miss america i recall from years back, I paraphrase, many people in the womens movement hated miss america but miss america sent many women to college. Maybe instead of college an investment opportunity. I know the percentage of black owned investment firms has risen sharply in recent years so this can be a way of helping both.
Pioneer, I think Profd point has value in that it alludes to black people with money , the black one percent, not wanting to take financial risks at certain level. I think many black people with money like investing where whites invest first with the idea that the whites safety net they can climb onto as well. Lebron James owns a part of liverpool that has returned a lot of money, this is because of Liverpool, the futebol club's fiscal scenario , it earns a lot of money as part of the collective bargaining with other teams in its league, it is in europe so the financial legal system is straight forward and not muddled like in the usa, thanks to Franklin deleanor roosevelt. But, Lebron has the money to own a wnba team or similar and isn't doing that because to be a majority owner means to risk your money. Many whites who own big sports teams, actually have debt lines they use. Most blacks with money don't have the same debt lines so it is a more potent risk. McCourt bought LA dodgers with debt money but sold it to an investment firm for a huge sum so he can pay back debt and have double or triple what he paid. But you need to be blunt, friends in the banking sector for that plan. Most black people with money don't have that.
IN AMENDMENT
in modern media entertainment most buyers are looking to sell. Sports teams/golf courses/ beauty pageants the idea is, you buy it now and it gains in media popularity and then you sell it later. with sports teams this works very well. The glazers bought Manchester United football club for circa a billion dollars usa in two thousand and five, now that club is speculated/viewed as worth on the market [honestly or dishonestly, rightly or wrongly] six billion and six hundred million dollars. so that is a six hundred percent increase in value in a twenty year period, a generation. WHich means thirty percent increase in value per year. Can a black male beauty pageant with no media legacy or heritage in an environment with gender definition problems get a thirty percent increase in speculative value per year? yes, is the simple answer, because all things are possible. But the honest answer is, who knows. How will men accept this contest? how will women? what if a cultural movement comes along that stymies the idea? Alot of questions exist that hinder financially safe investors touching it.
Thinking on this I argue, it might be financially wiser to add a boyfriend of miss black america or miss black usa element to those pageants, where the boyfriends of contestants have a small contest. The female contestants wouldn't have to have a bofriend to enter miss black america or miss black usa as they never needed it before, but for those that do, a miniature contest can happen. the winner of the boyfriend of miss black america or miss black usa earns with their partner a business investment opportunity with a black owned financial investment firm, where they are given money and the investment firm puts up equal value.
from 02052026
Citation
@Chevdove
any photos of you in the bikini contest?:) haha
Thanks for sharing some of your experiences with the topic.
Vanessa Williams is also a harlemite of new york city, her father was a dentist if I am correct.
and yes, anything that exist, if black people want to control have to own their own. HAving something black own doesn't mean black people are forced to use it, but it means black people have an option that is black owned and has different rules.
@Pioneer1
I see:) i am dictatorial in my style, I stifle imagination with the structure of my posts ok
I your commentary did not attack or offend the post. Talking about who contest beauty pageants is within the topic of beauty pageants.
My point is that these two black owned beauty pageants have emphasized women who can not be deemed yella/white/mulatto while not excluding the range of all black women which are all shades of brown. And since they both exists in the usa, which is a white european country, I think they are fine examples of black ownership that is honest to the larger situation of black people.
My offense to your point, is that your talking about black media pundits, not the black owned beauty pageants. Said pundits are mostly male, who are on white owned media outlets usually, with their most beautiful black woman is the yellaist black woman narrative... I don't connect black male pundits in white owned media to black owned beauty pageants. It isn't that your wrong in assessing media pundits, but said pundits don't have any connection to the activities of the black beauty pageants. What matters is that the black owned beauty pageants in the usa exist which emphasize the value of the phenotypical aesthetic most black women in the usa have. The black pundits in white media may be more well known or heard than black owned beauty pageants but that means nothing. If I can find the black owned beauty pageants anybody black can and in them you have the most positive qualities. Black ownership/ unmixed black aesthetic/embrace of the statian black experience/ positive financial quality as both are decades old now. What more can you ask for in the usa? in my mind nothing.
02072026
Citation
osted just now
@Pioneer1
5 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
my focus was that we need to make sure the Black women were BLACK women.
Not identity thieves.
5 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:
They are brainwashed too.
See my point.
I do gather that maybe you comment to my post just to get me to comment back, but you speak of we and then identity theft and then brainwashing...
In my mind I have many questions, who is we ? who can determine if an identity is stolen or an identity is open? who can determine if someone is brainwashed or simply of an opposing position?
I realize that my discourse may seem overwhelming or lacking space for oppositional discourse, but
when I think of the black populace in the usa or beyond i dont think of a we. it is a set of many groups united only in skin or appearance, some larger in populace, some smaller in populace, but not a we, that can act as one whole unit.
when I think of the black populace in the usa or beyond, I see many identities, and not all are isolated, some are congruent to each other, and I don't know of any authority in the black populace to give a label to one of the indentities to any black person
when I think fo the black populace in the usa or beyond, who can determine is brainwashed. In my personal experience it isn't brianwashing but simply free choice that black people make that has led to frictions amongst black people. When the black DOS christian churches in majority supported the war on drugs, which was a governmental program to cover the government creating and supporting multiple illegal drug industries in the black populace for the jim crowian purpose of harming the black populace, it wasn't because of brainwashing, the black churches made a choice. The reason wasn't complicated. Black churches are not the oldest christian heritage in the black populace of the usa. the oldest christian heritage in the black populace of the usa is the negro spirituals of enslavement, a heritage which has no bible, cause black people weren't allowed to read, nor a physical church because black people weren't allowed to own land or have a home.
The black church heritage is the second oldest christian heritage in Black DOS history and is based on an integration with whites who wanted to grow their religious communities with black members, by building churches + schools for blacks. So, the black church heritage was born of blacks willing to make deals with whites and place the responsibility of the black populace in the usa on the black populace gardless of any white actions, like burning a black town to the ground or making towns of black people sick or imprisoning town of black people, all which happened more times than any court cases for it from 1865 to 1980.
I am not a brainwashing believer. I think humans make choices with full comprehension, I think too many humans want to force mass action, collective action and get frustrated when collective mass action is harder to achieve than they think it should and call it brainwashing.
I keep saying to you and profd, alot of other black people don't think the way you do, they are not wrong, they are not right, they are not brainwashed, you two like myself, must focus on finding and acting with likeminded black folk.
so I say all of that to say, I have nothing of value to add after your comment, but I rather focus on positives and what can happen. Black people who are not interested in building something with other black people solely, are who they are. I can accept them.
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