In Honor of Laura Kaeppeler Miss America crowning I thought it would be fun to look back in time and revisit interesting facts while also looking at the many changes that have taken place within this pageant.

The very first Miss America was Margaret Gorman, she had one two beauty titles over the summer of 1921. Her original titles were the Inner-city Beauty Amateur and The Most Beautiful Bathing Girl, the awkwardness of both title names led officials to give her the title of Miss America. Since the naming of her title came late in the year, she is the only Miss America to have ever been crowned at the end of the year.

In 1925 Fay Lanphier was crowned and became the first Miss America to bring in accusations of pageant fixes. This was partly due to the previous year’s winner refusal to defend her title, suspecting that models and actresses would be entered due to the possibility of a movie. The main reason that accusations became so strong is that a fabricated Expose was sold to 68 newspapers across the country, though it was never printed as it was later retracted.

In 1944 Venus Ramey became the first red headed beauty to be crowned Miss America. Following her title she supported the war effort by selling war bonds. This later led to her receiving a special citation for her dedicated support of the war effort.

The 1958 Miss America title went to Marilyn Van Derbur from Denver Colorado. Following her crowning she went on to graduate from the University of Colorado and later became the only female speaker of GM for 16 long years. Later in life she helped to establish an adult survivor program for adult sexually abused children a result of her own troubled past.

Up until 1965 the talent section of the pageant had always been either singing or some form of drama. That changed with Vonda Van Dyke who entered the talent portion as a ventriloquist and was later crowned as Miss America. In addition to her crowning, she was the first winner to be named Miss Congeniality.

When Cheryl Prewitt received her Miss America crown in 1980 she proved science wrong. As a child she survived an accident that should have left her crippled and scarred. Her refusal to give up and fight on was the very strength that made her worthy of the Miss America title.

In 1998 Kate Shindle entered the Miss America pageant on an AIDS/HIV platform. She was first to bring AIDS Awareness into the world of Beauty Pageants. After her crowning she went on to help raise money for AIDS programs that is estimated between 75-100 million dollars. She still performs in AIDS/HIV  benefits.

As the years have passed the Miss American Pageant has progressed and shown true growth. The women who were once judged on beauty and charm have evolved into women who bravely fought personal tragedies that brought awareness  to America. These strong beautiful women have chosen to stand strong for beliefs and have dedicated their lives to helping others.