250 to 250: 61. Miss America Pageant, Narrated by Katie Boyd

Heather Cox Richardson and 250 to 250: Miss America Pageant, Narrated by Katie Boyd

Katie Boyd is a world-renowned media personality, fitness and spiritual lifestyle coach, and founder of Katie Boyd’s Miss Fit Club. Boyd examines the Miss America pageant, whose century-long history reflects America's slow reckoning with women's rights and racial equality.

The Miss America Pageant began in 1921.

• It started in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
• The pageant helped bring visitors to the city.
• Women competed for prizes and scholarships.
• Many people liked the pageant.
• Other people said it was unfair to women.
• In 1968, women's rights activists protested the pageant.
• They wanted equal rights and respect for women.
• For many years, women of color could not compete fairly.
• In 1984, Vanessa Williams became the first Black Miss America.
• The pageant changed over time as American society changed.
• Today, the history of the Miss America Pageant shows the long fight for women's rights and equality.

POP Interview and Civics Quiz:

• N-400 Part 2:05. What is your sex?
• USCIS 100:77. What did Susan B. Anthony do?
• USCIS 128:99.   Name one leader of the women’s rights movement in the 1800s.
• USCIS 128:102. When did all women get the right to vote? 

Family Fun:

• JWA: Protest Social Media's Beauty Standards in the Name of the Freedom Trash Can
• Miss America: History
• Smithsonian Magagzine: Fifty Years Ago, Protesters Took on the Miss America Pageant and Electrified the Feminist Movement
• Valery Evangelin: 50 Years Apart: The Reconstruction of Freedom Trash Can in the 1968 Miss America Protest
• Note: Toss things into a freedom trash can that oppress you.
• Zyppy: Up Against the Wall Miss America (1968) - FULL SHORT DOCUMENTARY