Miss Black USA
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Miss Black USA Scholarship Pageant is a national
scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...
competition for young women of
African descent Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...
that was founded in 1986 by Karen Arrington. While Ms. Arrington has a long-standing history of hosting a national Miss Black USA Scholarship Pageant, her system has not been exclusive in doing so consecutively. As indicated by the chart below, there have been some years where "no pageant was held" by Ms. Arrington's State of Maryland organized non-profit, for example in years such as 1998, 1999 and 2000. However, similar to Miss USA and Miss America both being national systems, there have been other non-profits to host national scholarship pageants to celebrate Black women, with documented queens. The Miss Black USA Pageant System founded by Ms. Arrington is a
non-profit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been Incorporation (business), incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a ...
in the state of Maryland, recognized under the 501(c)3 code of the
Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
. The current titleholder under her pageant system is Tahira Gilyard of New York, who was crowned on August 7, 2022.


History and former titleholders

The first titleholder was Tamiko Gibson, representing Maryland, who was crowned Miss Black USA 1987 at the JW Marriot in Washington, D.C. on June 6, 1987. Gibson would later complain that she had been improperly dethroned in May 1988 and received none of the promised prizes. On August 23, 2003, Elizabeth Muto won the pageant, which was held in Miami. Muto returned her crown later that year because she was unhappy with the contract that the pageant asked her to sign, which would have made them her exclusive publicist, agent and manager.


State pageants

Each year, state competitions are held across the nation including Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.http://www.missblackwashington.org Washington The Miss Black USA organization licenses the state pageants. Women from areas where a state pageant is not held may apply as a delegate-at-large.


Winners


Local and State winners

Miss Black USA state and local delegate winners and contestants have gone on to successful careers in entertainment, law, education, medicine and other arenas. Some of the state and local pageant's winners include: *Rev. Deidra Avery, MDiv. (Miss Black Ohio 1993) — Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. *Kia Talein Anderson-DeJan (Miss Black Maryland 1994) — R&B/Gospel Recording artist, radio and TV Personality and actress. * Dr. Lynette Danley-Land (Miss Black Iowa USA 1995) — College professor, author and speaker. * Valorie Burton (Former Miss Black Texas USA 1995) — Former co-host of Bishop TD Jake's Potter House, life coach and author. * Kemba Cofield (Miss Black Kentucky USA 1996) — Jazz recording artist * Arnecia (Bradley) Williams (Miss Black Alabama USA 2007) — US Army Engineer, Actress, and Motivational Speaker *
Chloe Johnson Chloe Johnson (born May 24, 1989) is an American television personality, beauty pageant title holder, model, dancer and community leader. Undercover Boss Chloe Johnson is best known for her appearance on season two of the critically acclaimed CBS ...
(Miss Black Colorado USA 2011) — Television personality, model and dancer. *'
Kade Henderson
'' (Miss Black New York USA 2015, Community Ambassador Award Recipient) Brand and Wardrobe Stylist and Digital Merchant *'
Ashley Jones
'' (Miss Black Michigan USA 2015, Top 15 Miss Black USA 2015 national pageant and Community Ambassador Award Recipient) actress, model, brand ambassador, host www.theashleymarie.com *Melba M. Furlow (Miss Black Florida USA 1996) — Former Christian Radio Talk show host, author, college professor, & former student of Iyanla Vanzanthttp://www.floridafamilynetwork.com/melba-furlow-herringtonhttp://www.jaxpubliclibrary.org/sites/default/files/Biography-Vertical-Files-List-Dec2014.pdf *Daphne Marcelle Lee (Miss Black New Jersey USA 2017) Professional Ballerina, Activist, Model, Brown Girls Do Ballet, MFA Hollins University, BFA Ailey/Fordham University, www.daphnemlee.com *Yasha Clark (Miss Black Louisiana USA 2019) Personal Injury Attorney, Model, Author www.justcallyasha.com


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pageant, Miss Black USA
USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
1986 establishments in the United States Miss Black USA Pageant