A decade or more before the chant "Black is Beautiful" some history appears to be happening here.
While the promoters likely wish you didn't know it now, "Rule Number Seven" prevented women of color from participating in the Miss America contest until around 1970! The rule specified contestants had to be of the white race, although much earlier pageants had used them in dance numbers as slaves. During the nascent days of the 1970s women's movent, they had reasons to hate the show they didn't even know. That is, the show did not objectify women equally!
This pageant, on the west coast by an unidentified photographer certainly not only proves how wrong the Atlantic City promoters were, it seems to break serious ground. As I wrote in the book "Secret History of the Black Pinup" it was photographer Howard Morehead who organized the first black beauty pageant in Los Angeles in 1958. This slide could document one even earlier.
In 2002, PBS aired a documentary in The American Experience series reporting Black communities organized their own, and they did. This is a splendid example, and one I believe was not widely reported. Further study? Black Beauty Pageants. The documentary mentions a 1968 pageant, but not this one.
Let's hope some doctoral students pick up on this. Black History Month is on the way.
Collection Jim Linderman
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing. :-)
ReplyDeletethey all look mixed except for 1
ReplyDeleteDid you really just say that? I am sorry, but black people come in different shades. brown is not the only color in the crayon box.
DeleteI know, I know you weren't saying it to be mean, just and observation. And I am not here to make a fuss or start an argument.
But com'on!
I think he was trying to say that it wasn't truly an African american pageant.
DeleteJust like how they do in Hollywood now,and i know because I have been told this many of times, when they are looking for a black person they are looking for a mixed person, they say so it would be closer to the "image" that they want, what is the image? white. I have nothing against this pageant of actors or what not, but most things that say they are or want an african american female, do not really want an african american female, just a person who is slightly darker then the rest of the cast. This pageant was a huge milestone but the girls chosen were chosen because they don't look fully African american.
Hot Stuff, no doubt
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteIs this in Santa Rosa? The stadium at the county fairgrounds looks just like that.
ReplyDeleteNice ! P.S. My father is said to be American Indian, I have Jamaican & Scottish heritage, but consider myself a Black American lady, so what if I'm "mixed" ? @ 'Anonymous"...
ReplyDeleteThere is only one race, the human one. It's just taking us a long time to realize it. Thanks for the comments folks.
ReplyDeleteGreat article!
ReplyDeletethank you all. Much appreciated Nikol Nix
ReplyDeleteThis image is taken from the Cavalcade of Jazz event that was held annually at Wrigley Fields during the late 1940's and throughout the 1950's. I have many images and slides from this event. This one is super.
ReplyDeletePlease see my Facebook page "Vintage Black Glamour- Pinkney Roberts MC"
Thanks Guy!
ReplyDelete