"There She Is, Miss America" The Politics of Sex, Beauty, and Race in America's Most Famous Pageant

While some see the Miss American Pageant as hokey vestige of another era, many remain enthralled by the annual Atlantic City event. And whether you love it or hate it, no one can deny the impact the contest has had on American popular culture-indeed, many reality television shows seem to have taken cues from the pageant. Founded in 1921, the Miss America Pageant has provided a fascinating glimpse into how American standards of femininity have been defined, projected, maintained, and challenged. At various times, it has been praised as a positive role model for young American women, protested as degrading to women by feminists, and shamed by scandals, such as the one caused by the Penthouse photos of Vanessa Williams in 1984. In this first interdisciplinary anthology to examine this uniquely American event, scholars defend, critique, and reflect on the pageant, grappling with themes like beauty, race, the body, identity, kitsch, and consumerism. "There She Is, Miss America" provides a fascinating examination of an enduring American icon.

Elwood W. Watson is associate professor of history at East Tennessee State University. Darcy Martin is an adjunct assistant professor in the Women's Studies Department at East Tennessee State University.

Introduction: "There She Is, Miss America"--Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin * Part One: History * Bathing Suits and Backlash: The First Miss America Pageants, 1921-1927--Kimberly A. Hamlin * Miss America, Rosie the Riveter, and World War II--Mary Anne Schofield * Miss America, National Identity, and the Politics of Whiteness--Sara Banet-Weiser * Part Two: Gender, Race, and Identity * Beauty, Femininity, and Black Bodies: Challenging the Paradigms of Race in the Miss America Pageant--Valerie Felita Kinloch * Princess Literature and the Miss America Pageant--Iset Anuakan * Wiregrass Country Pageant Competitions, or What's Beauty Got to Do with It?--Jerrilyn McGregory * Part Three: Personal Reflections * I Was Miss Meridian 1985: Sorophobia, Kitsch, and Local Pageantry--Donelle Ruwe * My Miss Americas: Pedagogy and Pageantry in the Heartland--Mark Eaton * Waiting for Miss America--Gerald Early
Introduction: "There She Is, Miss America"--Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin * Part One: History * Bathing Suits and Backlash: The First Miss America Pageants, 1921-1927--Kimberly A. Hamlin * Miss America, Rosie the Riveter, and World War II--Mary Anne Schofield * Miss America, National Identity, and the Politics of Whiteness--Sara Banet-Weiser * Part Two: Gender, Race, and Identity * Beauty, Femininity, and Black Bodies: Challenging the Paradigms of Race in the Miss America Pageant--Valerie Felita Kinloch * Princess Literature and the Miss America Pageant--Iset Anuakan * Wiregrass Country Pageant Competitions, or What's Beauty Got to Do with It?--Jerrilyn McGregory * Part Three: Personal Reflections * I Was Miss Meridian 1985: Sorophobia, Kitsch, and Local Pageantry--Donelle Ruwe * My Miss Americas: Pedagogy and Pageantry in the Heartland--Mark Eaton * Waiting for Miss America--Gerald Early