Miss America turns 100. Will she last another 100 years?

By SUSAN HAIGH

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — As Miss America turns 100, a large question remains unanswered: Is she inactive relevant?

The glitzy competition, calved from a 1921 Atlantic City quality contention conscionable a twelvemonth aft women were fixed the close to vote, maintains a analyzable beingness successful American civilization that has undergone aggregate waves of feminism.

Participation and viewership has dropped since its 1960s heyday. When the adjacent Miss America is crowned Thursday, her coronation volition lone beryllium disposable to watercourse via NBC’s Peacock service, shunted from her primetime broadcast throne.

Faithful Miss America organizers and enthusiasts contend the yearly ritual is present to enactment and volition support changing with the times. And adjacent though they whitethorn not person so devised a program for satellite peace, galore participants accidental the enactment — a ample supplier of assistance assistance to young women — has been life-altering, opening doors for them professionally and personally. Others should person the aforesaid opportunities, they say.

“I deliberation that radical person the incorrect thought astir what Miss America is each astir due to the fact that it’s not conscionable astir getting dressed up and being prim and due and being cleanable connected stage,” said Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap, who graduated from assemblage debt-free, founded a nationalist relations steadfast and became a TV personality.

Fans of Miss America often cheer connected their state’s contender similar they would for a section sports team. Yet immoderate person voiced disappointment astir the competition’s attempts to accommodate to modern mores.

“It’s successful benignant of a hindrance due to the fact that arsenic it tries to progress, it not lone loses its archetypal identity, but becomes little entertaining to the radical who similar to ticker it,” said Margot Mifflin, writer of “Looking for Miss America: A Pageant’s 100–Year Quest to Define Womanhood.”

Fans, she said, are divided implicit the trajectory of the contention — nary longer a “pageant.” Some privation it to beryllium astir “beauty and fitness” portion others clasp the determination toward focusing connected leadership, endowment and connection skills, she said.

Meanwhile, the contention is inactive engulfed by calls for greater diversity.

In the precocious 1930s, 40s and 50s, “rule fig seven,” stated contestants had to beryllium “of bully wellness and of the achromatic race.”

1968 saw a Miss Black America Contest, held to revolt against the deficiency of diversity, arsenic good arsenic a protestation by respective 100 women organized by the feminist radical New York Radical Women, which called Miss America “an representation that oppresses women successful each country successful which it purports to correspond us.”

It wasn’t until 1984 that the archetypal Black Miss America, Vanessa Williams, was crowned — and she relinquished her rubric implicit a nude photograph scandal, receiving an apology from the enactment lone successful 2015. At slightest 11 number women person won the rubric successful all.

Miss America President and CEO Shantel Krebs, a erstwhile South Dakota caput of authorities who does not instrumentality a salary, contends the Miss America enactment is “committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

She said the lawsuit has been astatine “the halfway of societal issues” implicit the past 100 years, noting winners person taken connected causes including HIV/AIDS consciousness and the scourge of opioid abuse. But Mifflin notes the modernization of the contention has happened “well down the broader civilization successful presumption of women’s progress.”

It wasn’t until 2018 that the judging connected carnal quality was eliminated, with the assistance of Miss America 1989 Gretchen Carlson.

Carlson, who stepped down arsenic committee seat successful 2019, was portion of an all-female enactment squad that took implicit pursuing an email ungraded successful which antheral leaders insulted erstwhile Miss Americas, denigrating their appearance, quality and adjacent their enactment lives. While immoderate welcomed the changes arsenic a mode to marque the lawsuit much relevant, galore authorities organizations rebelled against the caller enactment team.

“I accidental successful the publication that it’s ever been successful dialog with feminism, but down feminism,” Mifflin said of the Miss America competition. “So it ever seems similar it’s trying to drawback up.”

Dunlap, the seventh Black Miss America, believes the contention — which she has nary occupation calling a pageant — needs to go much divers successful bid to stay relevant. She noted, for example, determination person been nary winners of Hispanic origin.

She said much needs to beryllium done to assistance young women of colour get progressive astatine the section level, specified arsenic helping them screen the precocious costs of participating — including processing their talents and buying gowns — truthful they tin prosecute the aforesaid life-changing opportunities.

This year, the nonprofit enactment — tally by an ardent radical of volunteers astatine the national, authorities and section levels — announced the apical assistance awarded astatine the Dec. 16 finale volition treble to $100,000. The alteration was made imaginable by a donation from Miss America 1996 Shawntel Smith Wuerch and her hubby Ryan Wuerch. According to the organization, a full of $435,500 successful assistance wealth volition beryllium distributed successful this year’s competition, portion much than $5 cardinal is awarded annually done national, authorities and section programs.

Dunlap hopes that alternatively of looking for what she calls an “it girl” who tin pull hits connected societal media, the Miss America enactment successful the coming years focuses connected the promoting the “longevity of the organization.” Krebs says organizers are doing conscionable that, noting the fig of yearly participants accrued from astir 5,000 to 6,500 aft the 2018 changes.

“I conscionable consciousness similar there’s mixed messaging connected whether oregon not you tin beryllium beauteous and charismatic and besides inactive beryllium intelligent. And I conscionable deliberation that’s silly to me,” Dunlap said. “It’s similar women tin lone bash 1 thing, truthful prime a side. And that’s not true.”

It’s unclear if the determination to determination the contention online says much astir the destiny of broadcast tv than Miss America. NBCUniversal Media has been bullish astir its streaming work and Krebs insisted the determination to streaming was the organization’s determination and it had thing to bash with viewership numbers.

In 2019, the Miss America finale connected NBC drew 3.6 cardinal viewers, an all-time low. In contrast, the 1954 contention attracted 27 cardinal viewers erstwhile determination was overmuch little contention for eyeballs.

“If you accidental you privation to beryllium astir the adjacent 100 years, we perfectly had the tendency to beryllium streamed due to the fact that that is wherever our aboriginal is,” Krebs said, noting however younger radical — and support successful mind, Miss America contestants indispensable beryllium betwixt the ages of 17 and 25 — are little apt to person entree to broadcast television.

Some fearfulness moving online whitethorn spell the downfall of what’s often dubbed “the archetypal world TV show,” which started airing unrecorded successful 1954.

“We person witnessed the demise of a historical lawsuit that helped signifier Americans’ lifetimes,” 1 instrumentality proclaimed connected Facebook. Another agreed with Krebs, predicting “the assemblage we tin scope is greater than ever now!”

Yet different fan, inactive upset the lawsuit is nary longer successful Atlantic City — it moved to a Connecticut casino successful 2019 — wrote: “Unfortunately aft 100 years it seems to person tally its course.”

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This communicative has been corrected to bespeak that Gretchen Carlson stepped down arsenic Miss America seat of her ain accord successful 2019, and did not person to resign.