Photo of Joyce Warner, Miss Black America 1971
- Single photograph measuring 6 ¼ x 9 inches. Manuscript caption verso reading “Joyce Warner, Tallahassee, / Miss Black America
- Tallahassee, Florida , 1971
Tallahassee, Florida, 1971. Single photograph measuring 6 ¼ x 9 inches. Manuscript caption verso reading “Joyce Warner, Tallahassee, / Miss Black America” with newspaper article affixed and stamped “SEP231971”. Near Fine.. A press photo of Joyce Warner, who was crowned Miss Black America in 1971. The Miss Black America competition was founded in 1968 by entrepreneur J. Morris Anderson as a protest of Miss America’s whites-only policy; the first Miss Black America competition was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on the same day and location as that year’s Miss America.
As described in the newspaper article affixed to the back of the photo, Joyce Warner refused to attend subsequent Miss Black America competitions, alleging that the organizers had misled her about the prizes (she claimed to have never received a promised $600 scholarship, $5,000 cash, and trips to Haiti and the Catskills) and used her photograph for cosmetics advertising without her permission.
The Miss Black America pageant is still active; Miss America hosted its first Black contestant, Sheryl Browne, in 1971.
As described in the newspaper article affixed to the back of the photo, Joyce Warner refused to attend subsequent Miss Black America competitions, alleging that the organizers had misled her about the prizes (she claimed to have never received a promised $600 scholarship, $5,000 cash, and trips to Haiti and the Catskills) and used her photograph for cosmetics advertising without her permission.
The Miss Black America pageant is still active; Miss America hosted its first Black contestant, Sheryl Browne, in 1971.