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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 https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11420-the-miss-usa-pageant-the-surprising-number-of-black-contestants-2024/#findComment-71123 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 https://a60cd4c2-9ac1-4f86-909b-8059577f3c6a.filesusr.com/ugd/5fe1f0_8f6b3a2fa6bd47dfb5359bf756393475.pdf 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 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. 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 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. 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. 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.