pageant stalwarts complained about the firing of Bert Parks, the show's emcee for 25 years. More significantly, in 1984, Miss America Vanessa Williams -- the first African-American winner -- was dethroned after sexually provocative photographs of Williams were publicized (Corliss, 102). Williams, of course, has gone on to make a successful career for herself in film and music, but the humiliation of having to surrender her crown undoubtedly lingers on.
In 1968, a group of feminists went to Atlantic City to protest the Miss America Pageant because of its objectification of American women as little more than sex objects ("No More Miss America," 1). Women protesting the pageant argued that the pageant contestants epitomized the roles that women are forced to play by society, parading down runways much like pampered animals parade at 4-H county fairs. The protesters also complained that few people of color participated in the pageant, let alone winning it. Finally, the feminist protesters believed then as many do today tha
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