How Two Black Pageant Queens Exposed the World’s Beauty Biases
The night that Janelle “Penny” Commissiong became the first Black Miss Universe was a historic moment. It was July 16, 1977, well into a decade defined by the explosive Black Power Movement and a coinciding aesthetic that amplified Black women’s natural beauty. A global delegation of contestants from 80 countries traveled to Santo Domingo, the capital c…
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