Cheryl Adrienne Browne Hollingsworth,

Miss Iowa The Miss Iowa competition is the official preliminary for the state of Iowa in the Miss America Scholarship Competition. Bailey Hodson of Des Moines was crowned Miss Iowa 2022 on June 11, 2022 at Adler Theatre in Davenport, Iowa. She compete ...

1970,List of Miss Iowa Winners
/ref> is a former ballet dancer who was the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

contestant in the history of the

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

pageant (

Miss America 1971 Miss America 1971, the 44th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 12, 1970. The Women's Liberation Front demonstrated at the event and Miss Iowa 1970, Cheryl Browne, was the first Afri ...

) following the abolition of the pageant's rule number seven, instituted during the 1930s, which read: "contestants must be of good health and of the white race". In 2000, Cheryl Browne Hollingsworth lived in Lithonia, Georgia, with her husband Karl. Both work in the financial industry and have two grown children.

Early life, Miss Iowa 1970, and Miss America 1971

Browne's father, Carl, was born in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

and worked as a narcotics policeman for Kennedy Airport's Port Authority. Her mother Mercedes, who is half Native American, managed a tuberculosis clinic at Triboro Hospital. Cheryl grew up in

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springf ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

with her three brothers." She studied dance for 16 years prior to the Miss America pageant. Browne left New York to attend the Lutheran - based Luther College in

Decorah Decorah is a city in and the county seat of Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,587 at the time of the 2020 census. Decorah is located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and U.S. Route 52, and is the largest commun ...

, Iowa at the advice of her minister. She stated in an interview that it was her first venture to the midwest. While she was an undergraduate there, Browne entered and won the local 1970 ''Miss Decorah Pageant'' which enabled her to compete in the

pageant held on June 13, 1970. Browne placed first in the swimsuit competition and performed an original ballet performance for the talent competition to the music of '

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade'' der ...

.' She beat the other 19 (white) contestants to win the title of

1970. This win generated a strong response (some in support and some critical) to newspapers, the Miss Iowa pageant board, and to Browne herself. The criticisms ranged from her ethnic background to the fact that a non-native Iowan won the crown. According to ''

The Register-Guard ''The Register-Guard'' is a daily newspaper in the northwestern United States, published in Eugene, Oregon. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the ''Eugene Daily Guard'' and the ''Morning Register''. The paper serves the Eugene- ...

'', Browne, herself, was "surprised that Iowa, with its conservative traditions, silent majority, and small black population (1 percent of the state's 1970 population of 2,800,000) was the first state to pick a black girl as its representative." This backlash followed her to the

pageant held on September 12, 1970. Browne drew attention from reporters and from security personnel in Atlantic City who maintained a visible presence during pageant rehearsals. In addition, the

Women's Liberation Front The Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) is an American self-described radical feminist organization that opposes transgender rights and gender identity legislation. It has engaged in litigation on transgender topics, working against the Obama administ ...

demonstrated at the event. Brown was not a finalist, however, losing to Miss Texas 1970, Phyllis George. In August 1971, Browne traveled to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

with George,

Miss Nevada The Miss Nevada competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Nevada in the Miss America competition, and the name of the title held by that winner. The first Nevadan to compete at Miss America was Carol Lampe in 1 ...

1970, Vicky Jo Todd,

Miss New Jersey The Miss New Jersey competition is an annual pageant held to select the representative for the state of New Jersey in the Miss America pageant. Two Miss New Jersey winners have gone on to hold the title of Miss America: Bette Cooper who won in ...

1970,

Hela Yungst Hela Yungst Hochman (January 15, 1950 - February 24, 2002), also known as Hela Young, was an American television entertainer and beauty pageant winner. She was a promoter of Holocaust awareness and a former president of the New Jersey Commissio ...

Miss Arizona The Miss Arizona competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Arizona in the Miss America pageant. Arizona has twice won the Miss America title. The first Miss Arizona, Anna Marie Barnett, was crowned in 1938. ...

1970, Karen Shields,

Miss Arkansas The Miss Arkansas competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Arkansas in the Miss America pageant. Arkansas has won the Miss America title three times (1964, 1982, 2017). Ebony Mitchell of Harrison was crowned Mi ...

1970, Donna Connelly, and Miss Texas 1970 (George's replacement), Belinda Myrick. They participated in a 22-day

United Service Organizations The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

tour for American troops that began in

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

. Browne later commented that she thought "it was one of the last Miss America groups to go to Vietnam." Browne graduated from Luther College in 1972.

Photographs

Photographs taken at the MISS AMERICA U.S.O. SHOW to Vietnam in 1971It Happened Here in New Jersey
- Contains photograph of Cheryl Browne in the preliminaries prior to the

pageant on September 8, 1970.

References

External links

Cheryl Adrienne Brown
-

biography.com ''Biography'' is an American documentary television series and media franchise created in the 1960s by David L. Wolper and owned by A&E Networks since 1987. Each episode depicts the life of a notable person with narration, on-camera interviews ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Cheryl Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Miss America 1971 delegates Place of birth missing (living people) American beauty pageant winners Luther College (Iowa) alumni 20th-century American people

Early life, Miss Iowa 1970, and Miss America 1971

Photographs

Further reading

References

External links