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Researching Moments in History: Miss Black Arkansas
The bond between the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the Center for Arkansas History and Culture—a collaboration between the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) and the University of Arkansas Little Rock (UA Little Rock) that makes archival materials from both entities available to the public in the Research Room at the CALS Roberts Library—began as a dream of the possibility of connecting patrons with local history in an organized way that meets the standards of archivists and genealogists on a national level.
A recent phone call exemplified these efforts to connect the public with the information they seek. The call was answered by a student intern with UA Little Rock. He successfully found the newspaper article the patron called about and sent a scanned image to the patron. After a shift change, the same patron called and spoke with a CALS staffer to make another request for an article on a different date. She was looking to document her involvement in a moment in the state’s and the nation’s history, which sent us on the hunt for information about the Miss Black Arkansas pageant and national Miss Black America pageant.
In August 1977, Marilyn D. Lott was named Miss Black Arkansas. She lived this history but was not able to find much information about it. After being crowned at the state level, she represented Arkansas at the national Miss Black America contest on September 9, 1977, at the Los Angeles Palladium.
A number of young women competed for the title of Miss Black Arkansas that year. The Youth Council of the Economic Opportunity Agency of Pulaski County, an antipoverty agency, sponsored the contest. Participants in addition to Lott included Tamara Thomas, Deborah Tharpe, Paula Buttes, Barbara Harvell, and Adelina Jewell, all residents of Little Rock. Francis Brooks was a resident of North Little Rock, and Vanessa Jackson represented Jacksonville. Toni Payne represented Tafton. Deborah Cole represented Lonoke, and Jackie Morgansfield represented Lee County. Carolyn Hunter represented Fairview, Paula Clay represented West Helena, and Brenda Brunson represented DeWitt.
A deeper dive into the newspaper archives shows an earlier contest for Miss Black Arkansas—reportedly the first one: an August 17, 1971, article in the Arkansas Democrat named Deborah Harris of Altheimer as the first Miss Black Arkansas. The program was held at the Arkansas Arts Center. Prizes included a $100 scholarship and a set of luggage.
The first national Miss Black America pageant was held in 1968. According to a History.com blog post, “J. Morris Anderson, a Philadelphia entrepreneur, asked his two young daughters what they wanted to be when they grew up. They gave an answer that most girls at the time would: they wanted to be Miss America. But he knew that the racist standards would keep them from even being considered for the crown. It was then that he decided to do something—to show his girls they could be Miss America, too. Phillip H. Savage, then director of the Tri-State NAACP, helped the groundbreaking—but then taboo—pageant get national coverage. They decided to hold it the same night, and in the same city, as the [all-white] Miss America pageant. They chose to start their so-called “positive protest” at midnight, in hopes that newsmen would drop by when they left Convention Hall after the conclusion of the other pageant.”
And press did indeed show up and cover the event.
Deborah Harris would attend the fourth annual national pageant, held on August 27, 1971, in New York City. (Arkansas seems to have not sent an entrant to the first three national pageants.) Harris was a speech and drama major at Arkansas AM&N college in Pine Bluff (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).
Runners-up for Miss Black Arkansas in 1971 were Blenna A. Persley of Little Rock, Velma A. Thomas of Hot Springs, and Adrianne E. Duckett of Little Rock. Other contestants in 1971 were Diana Braggs and Marilyn Kelley of Little Rock, Florence McCall and Blenna Persley of North Little Rock, Veima A. Thomas of Hot Springs, Loretta Coleman of Pine Bluff, Olivia Laird of Newport, Elizabeth Latting of Helena, Rosie Lawson of Fordyce, and Jennifer Ledbetter of Alexander.
Local department store M. M. Cohn collaborated with the pageant to introduce a line of cosmetics, Libra, marketed to the Black community. The line included foundation creams, face shampoo, complexion crème, liquid makeup, translucent face powder, blush, eyelashes, eye makeup, skin freshener, bath oil, cologne, double-strength antiperspirant, and nail polish. Representatives from Libra were available to assist in makeup for the contestants and had personal appearances in the store promoting the line.
The Council for Economic and Social Development Award for outstanding service to minority groups was awarded to Michael T. Puckett in 1972 for his work as the producer of the Miss Black Arkansas program and A Touch of Soul shown on KATV Channel 7.
Little Rock resident Janice Williams also won the title. She was a sibling to a future judge, Joyce Williams Warren, and was the first Black cheerleader at Little Rock’s Central High School. She was one of three members of the musical group Stargard, whose first album went gold. The song “Which Way is Up” was on musical charts in 1977. The group is highlighted in 1978’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an American musical comedy film directed by Michael Schultz, written by Henry Edwards, and featuring a cast led by Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. The group later toured with the Isley Brothers, and she was a featured guest on The Minor Key television program led by Art Porter Sr.
The Northwest Arkansas Times noted on August 10, 1975, that Darnesia Scott of Camden was the winner of the Miss Black Arkansas pageant that year. The Arkansas Democrat ran an article on July 7, 1978, spotlighting Odellivia V. Watson of North Little Rock as the winner of the pageant. Sadie Merrick of Blevins participated in the 1978 pageant. Karen Harris of Little Rock participated in the 1979 program.
In 1980, Arkansas had its first African American Miss Arkansas, Lencola Sullivan of Morrilton; she became a runner-up at that year’s national Miss America competition, in which she was also the first Black contestant to place in the top five.
The national Miss Black America pageant continues today.
By Rhonda Stewart, genealogy and local history specialist for the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, housed in the CALS Bobby L. Roberts Library of Arkansas History & Art
