Miss Black America: Pageant as Protest

Brittany Lewis's dissertation on black history in Atlantic City examines how the Miss Black America pageant evolved in the late 1960s as a reaction to the then all-white Miss America competition, a concept Lewis calls “pageant-as-protest.” She played a personal role in the next chapter of Miss Black America pageants: winning the title herself. Now, she’s launching her career in research and teaching on racial justice issues.