‘You Can Be Unapologetically Black’: How the Miss Black America Pageant Has Endured 50 Years

The prizes are small, the audience tiny. For contestants, it is both affirmation and protest. And yes, there are swimsuits.

Clockwise from top L: Miss Black America contestant Ryann Richardson of New York; Khadijah Lamah of Maple Grove, Minn. performs a monologue; Shatoyia Jones of Amherst, Mass., in the swimsuit competition; and contestants waiting backstage for the talent competition. All photos: Christopher Smith/The Washington Post

By Robin Givhan

At the 50th anniversary Miss Black America pageant, the crowds are not what they could be, the preliminary competition is running more than two hours behind schedule, and the talent portion has become a stultifying battle of Maya Angelou monologues with an occasional Nikki Giovanni grace note.

I’m a woman, Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman.

Phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal.

But the empty seats and the snail’s pace do not dampen the enthusiasm at the Gem Theater, where 23 young women have gathered to pose in swimsuits and heels, stride across a stage like bedazzled Barbies and speak extemporaneously about race, politics and, if not world peace, then at least well-being and uplift. This most adamant celebration of black beauty is held almost a month ahead of the more famous Miss America pageant — the one that will be televised live on ABC but is currently riven by internal strife as it tries to find its feminist footing and existential meaning.