Vanessa Williams Part 1: Becoming Miss America
Mike tells Sarah how a 20-year-old singer, actress and French horn player became Miss America with less than six months of practice. Digressions include Ted Bundy, Stephen King’s “It” and a bonus debunking of the "bra-burning feminist" trope. We're sorry to say that this episode includes a description of child sexual abuse.
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Clips!
- Opening musical number
- Vanessa introduces herself
- Talent competition
- Swimsuit
- Vanessa wins!
Links!
- Sarah's Miss America piece!
- Vanessa and Helen’s memoir, “You Have No Idea”
- Margot Mifflin’s “Looking for Miss America”
- Vanessa Williams, Whitney Houston and Hollywood’s Misogynoir Problem
- Vanessa Williams: A Beauty Queen’s Crown of Thorns
- Miss America--The Inside Story
- First Black Miss America Finds Unforeseen Issues
- Ain’t I a Beauty Queen?: Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race
- Life with Daughters: Watching the Miss America Pageant
- 'A Felony Just to Own': The Sleazy Story Behind Penthouse’s Most Controversial Issue
- There She Goes, Miss America
- Most Famous Miss America In History
- 1989 People magazine article
- In Black and White
- Putting on a Happy Face