Black History Month Spotlight - Five Black Pageant Winners

We at D’IYANU love that our clothing is empowering men and women to express themselves through fashion. For Black History Month, we wanted to highlight one of our favorite moments from 2019 that is building up people of color. For the FIRST time ever, five black women are holding crowns in all major beauty pageants. This is a huge achievement for our community and has opened up doors for more representation in the future.

The beauty pageant world was shook when Nia Franklin was first crowned Miss America 2019. Her win marked the beginning of a groundbreaking year for black women. In the months that followed, Kaliegh Garris won Miss Teen USA in April, Cheslie Kryst won Miss USA in May, followed by Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa and Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica who were crowned Miss Universe and Miss World later in the year.

Their wins showed how pageants have evolved from typically only celebrating features associated with white women to more inclusive beauty standards. This change is momentous because for the first time in history black women are being celebrated for their features. These five women are showing the world that all women are beautiful and that all features can be celebrated.