By: Braylyn Elrod
Jason Barrett, U.S. Army, Sergeant (SGT)
If I could go back in time and participate in any moment in history, I would choose to attend the first Miss Black America Pageant in 1968. This was a moment that celebrated the beauty, intelligence, and pride of Black women in a society where they were viewed as unworthy of crowns and dignity. As a mixed-race woman who grew up in southern New Hampshire, it was always hard for me to feel like I fit in when the majority of my peers were white. I always wished there were more people who looked like me, especially women, who were proud of who they were on the outside just as much as the inside.
The Miss Black America Pageant was not just about the women’s beauty, it was also about showing a political and cultural response to the exclusion that had been around for years. In 1968, the traditional Miss America Pageant had never crowned a Black woman since its ideal standards rejected features, like hair textures and body types that didn’t ideally fit a white person. In an attempt to protest, many activists and artists came together and created a pageant where Black women were not only accepted but also celebrated.
If I were to go back to this time, I would not only want to watch from the crowd, but I would want to participate in it. To be able to be surrounded by women who embrace their naturalness, whether it was their hair, their dark skin, their “loud” voices, or even their culture, would be nice to finally feel like I would fit in for once. I can imagine that the place would be full of pride and joy, all for the right reasons, because for once, the world was looking at Black women not with judgment but with respect.
This moment matters to me personally because Black women are still fighting for visibility and freedom over our own identities. We are consistently labeled as too loud, too angry, or too ghetto. We’re told to be strong but not too emotional, to feel beautiful in our skin, but not to be too black. Even in the state I grew up in, people often take an extra second to look at me when I am walking around with my white family or friends. I’ve had to find my own identity within myself, even while constantly being judged by my peers. The women at that pageant weren’t just doing it for themselves, but doing it hoping we would finally be able to build something new and create a new world where we didn’t have to apologize for just simply existing.
The 1968 Miss Black America Pageant is meaningful to me because it represents self-definition and reminds me that resistance isn’t always loud or violent, sometimes it can be shown just by putting on your best dress and daring the world to see your worth. Being apart of this would be more than symbolic, it would be healing.
