N.J. woman is not just a pageant winner – she’s a Miss America scholar

When Brigantine, N.J., native and Temple University graduate Brittany Lewis vied for — and won — the title of Miss Black America two weeks ago in Philadelphia, she didn’t do it for the crown. As Miss Delaware 2014, Lewis already had one of those. She also didn’t do it for the prizes, attention, or glamour — not that she didn’t appreciate those perks. She did it for research.

Lewis is a third-year Ph.D. student at George Washington University. Her doctoral dissertation is about Atlantic City from 1964 (the year Boardwalk Hall hosted the Democratic National Convention) through the casino boom of the 1970s and ’80s, with a special focus on the Miss Black America pageant.

Philadelphian J. Morris Anderson founded Miss Black America in Atlantic City during the 1968 Miss America pageant as a protest against the color bar. Miss America long had “Rule No. 7,” which specified that “contestants must be of good health and of the white race.” Although Rule No. 7 was repealed in 1950, it was 1971 before an African American competitor made it to the national pageant.

Oprah Winfrey competed in Miss Black America. So did Bern Nadette Stanis and Toni Braxton. Pageant performers have included Stevie Wonder and the Jackson Five. Today, Aleta Anderson, J. Morris’ daughter, produces the event. This year’s Miss Black America contestants included Patience Carter, the Philadelphian injured in last year’s Pulse Nightclub shooting. She won the swimsuit competition.

But Lewis, with her dance skills, poise, beauty, and major brains, took home the top prize. Here, Miss Black America 2017 holds forth on her Jersey roots and historical fascination, and gives a shout-out to one of this weekend’s Miss America hopefuls.

How did you get involved in pageants?

I actually didn’t start doing pageants until I was 21. I was a senior at Temple, majoring in broadcast TV and African American studies and looking for additional scholarship money to pay off student loans. One of my friends said, hey, Miss America is one of the largest scholarship providers for women.

I didn’t know what I was doing — I didn’t know how to stand, what to wear, etc. — but I was still able to win a lot of scholarship money: academic awards, interview awards. I had a friend who had been through Miss America and guided me, and I came to love the …

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