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Indian girl Delaware`s candidate for Miss America: Indian Express
Atlantic City, Sept 17: At a multicultural Miss America pageant to be held next weekend, 24-year-old Shoha Kirti Parekh, of Indian descent, will share the stage with contestants representing a broad cross-section of American society.
Atlantic City, Sept 17: At a multicultural Miss America pageant to be held next weekend, 24-year-old Shoha Kirti Parekh, of Indian descent, will share the stage with contestants representing a broad cross-section of American society.
Parekh, whose parents were born in India, however, downplays her Indian identity, saying, "I'm not here because i'm Indian. I'm a contestant who happens to be Indian."
While Parekh, who will represent Delaware at the pageant, is of Indian origin, Miss Alaska Peggy Willman is an Inupiaq Eskimo and Miss South Dakota Vanessa Shortbull is a Lakota Sioux. Six contestants are black, and the competition will be hosted by a black person for the first time ever.
This multiculturalism is a relatively recent development for an event that for more than 30 years excluded minorities of any kind.
Since it started 81 years ago as a post-labour day publicity stunt on the Atlantic City boardwalk, the Miss America pageant has not been known for diversity.
In the 1950s, rule 7 of the contestant contract stated: "contestants must be of good health and of the white race.
"We broke that barrier in 1958 and started doing it, and we were pleased when the first black Miss America was crowned, but in the pageant organisation, it was a continual struggle for blacks to participate," said Pierre Hollingsworth, a former President of the NAACP's Atlantic City chapter.
In 1970, Cheryl Browne of Iowa became the pageant's first black contestant. Thirteen years later, Vanessa Williams made history as the first black woman to be crowned Miss America, but got death threats and other hate mail after it.
While Parekh, who will represent Delaware at the pageant, is of Indian origin, Miss Alaska Peggy Willman is an Inupiaq Eskimo and Miss South Dakota Vanessa Shortbull is a Lakota Sioux. Six contestants are black, and the competition will be hosted by a black person for the first time ever.
This multiculturalism is a relatively recent development for an event that for more than 30 years excluded minorities of any kind.
Since it started 81 years ago as a post-labour day publicity stunt on the Atlantic City boardwalk, the Miss America pageant has not been known for diversity.
In the 1950s, rule 7 of the contestant contract stated: "contestants must be of good health and of the white race.
"We broke that barrier in 1958 and started doing it, and we were pleased when the first black Miss America was crowned, but in the pageant organisation, it was a continual struggle for blacks to participate," said Pierre Hollingsworth, a former President of the NAACP's Atlantic City chapter.
In 1970, Cheryl Browne of Iowa became the pageant's first black contestant. Thirteen years later, Vanessa Williams made history as the first black woman to be crowned Miss America, but got death threats and other hate mail after it.