She’s Your Queen to Be!: Black Women in the Kentucky Pageantry Circuit

Name: She’s Your Queen to Be!: Black Women in the Kentucky Pageantry Circuit
Start: 2025-04-08T18:00:00-04:00
Location: 1310 S 3rd St, Louisville, KY, United States, Kentucky 40208

Schedule

Tue, 08 Apr, 2025 at 06:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

1310 S 3rd St, Louisville, KY, United States, Kentucky 40208 | Louisville, KY

There is a long history of the modern beauty pageant dating back to the early 20th century with the installation of the Miss America Pageant in 1921. Most of the composition of its competitors have been white women, but there has been an increase in the shift in the number of Black women contestants and winners. In 2019, Black women held 5 major beauty pageant titles: Miss World, Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Universe, and Miss Teen USA. While these titles were on a national and international level, how does the pageantry space look on a local and regional level?
This program will discuss the historical, social, and political implications of American standards of beauty for Black women in the pageantry circuit in Kentucky. A panel of local former and current beauty queens will discuss their experiences about the origins and consequences of such standards. The discussion will also include their experiences about how culture and race center into this pageantry circuit. The panelists are current and former Black pageant queens including: Dr. Estella Conwill Majozo, former Miss Exposition; Erica McPheeters, 2024-2025 Miss Kentucky State University, Jordan Ponder, 2024-2025 Miss Simmons College. This panel will be moderated by Ms. Kentucky USA Ambassador 2025 (who is currently vying for the National USA title) Andrea Bolden.