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August, 2008
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Confronting the "Bra-Burners:" Teaching Radical Feminism with a Case Study


Beth Kreydatus
Virginia Commonwealth University

IN MANY OF THE U.S. HISTORY COURSES I have taught, I have encountered students who refer to the second-wave feminists of the 1960s and 1970s as "bra-burners." Unsurprisingly, these students know very little about the origin of this epithet, and frequently, they know even less about the women's movement generally. Second-wave feminism, and especially radical feminism, can be a challenging topic to teach in courses like the U.S. survey, largely because of the hostility and misconceptions that motivate students to use terms like "bra-burner." It might be tempting to pop in a good documentary film on second-wave feminism rather than to directly confront students' wary glares and open up a discussion on the topic.1 However, the women's movement fundamentally reshaped America in the 1960s and 1970s, and the issues debated by radical feminists continue to affect our students' world on a daily basis. It is important that we find ways to get students talking about second-wave feminism, and it is essential that, as history instructors, we provide them with historical context so they can have informed discussions. 1
      One way to get the conversation started is to introduce U.S. survey students to the Miss America Pageant protests of 1968. There were two protests staged in Atlantic City to critique the pageant: the first was led by the burgeoning women's liberation movement, and the second was organized by African American civil rights advocates. There are two good reasons to make these protests the focus for a class on radical feminism. First, by introducing students to some of the literature from the Miss America Pageant protests, they can learn about 1960s social movements—exploring their intent, their ideals, and the culture they were up against—through primary evidence. Secondly, an examination of the protests offers students an opportunity to hone their analytical skills. I open the class by telling students that our overall goal will be to assess the effectiveness of the Miss America Pageant protests. Were the protestors' tactics and rhetoric persuasive? Did these protests lead Americans to question their definitions of beauty? Have Americans' attitudes about beauty pageants—and women's status generally—changed because of these social movements? By combining an analysis of the racism and sexism of 1960s normative American culture with a discussion of the strengths and shortcomings of the radicals who attempted to challenge that culture, students get a more complex and complete picture of the social movements of the 1960s. 2
      Who exactly were the notorious "bra-burners?" In the first national action of what would later be called "radical feminism," about one hundred feminists converged on the Atlantic City boardwalk to protest "the Degrading Mindless-Boob-Girlie Symbol" that "we are all forced to play as women."2 In the months before the protest, feminists—many of whom had a background as activists in the student left or the civil rights movement—had organized into women's liberation groups across the country because they found normative expectations of gender to be inherently oppressive. In order to liberate women, radical feminists believed that social, cultural, economic, and political structures would all have to be reshaped to acknowledge female power and admit female voices. The Miss America Pageant protest, organized by the New York Radical Women (NYRW), directed the attention of the nation specifically toward sexist beauty ideals and social expectations. According to historian Alice Echols, author of Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, this action "marked the end of the movement's obscurity" and made both "women's liberation" and beauty standards topics for national discussion.3 3
      These protests were infamous for spawning the term "bra-burner," although no bras were burnt in Atlantic City that day. (It is possible this was because Atlantic City officials denied the protestors a burning permit.4) Feminists threw their bras—along with "woman-garbage" such as girdles, false eyelashes, steno pads, wigs, women's magazines, and dishcloths—into a "Freedom Trash Can," but they did not set it on fire.5 However, Robin Morgan, the primary organizer of the protest, characterized the action as "a symbolic bra-burning" in an interview with The New York Times, and the suggestion that feminists were burning their bras in Atlantic City provided the press with a catchphrase to trivialize feminist protest.6 While the men of the New Left were burning "serious" symbols like flags and draft cards (demonstrations that could land them in jail), critics suggested that "bra-burning" feminists were merely concerned with the discomfort caused by their undergarments. In a similar critique, several commentators suggested that the feminists only objected to the pageant because of petty jealousy or sexual frustration. Editorialist Harriet Van Horne commented, "If they can't be pretty, dammit, they can at least be quiet!"7 At the same time the press demeaned the feminists and their cause, they sexualized the protestors by evoking the image of a crowd of agitated, braless women waving flaming lingerie in the air. Of course, it was objectification such as this that the radical feminists sought to challenge through their protest. 4
      While the protest organized by the New York Radical Women offers insight into women's liberation and the challenges the movement faced, the second protest—also in Atlantic City on the night of the Miss America Pageant—illustrates the political and cultural significance of black pride in the late-1960s. Beginning in 1968, J. Morris Anderson, an African American entrepreneur, produced "Miss Black America," an annual beauty pageant for African American women. This beauty pageant drew attention to the racist beauty standards that pervaded the all-white Miss America Pageant and American mainstream culture generally. Saundra Williams, the winner of Miss Black America in 1968, observed, "Miss America does not represent us because there has never been a black girl in the pageant."8 Significantly, Williams wore her hair in a "natural" hairstyle, and she was a member of the NAACP and a founding member of the "Black Awareness Movement" at her school.9 By crowning Williams "Miss Black America" in Atlantic City on the same night as the Miss America Pageant, the organizers of Miss Black America critiqued normative beauty culture and invited African Americans to publicly celebrate the beauty of black women. 5
      These two protests clearly have much in common. Not only did these protests occur on the same night, both groups identified the racism of the Miss America Pageant as a primary motivation for their protest. However, the two groups of activists acknowledged distinct goals for their protests, and their tactics clearly indicate an ideological difference. An interview by a New York Times reporter illustrates the differences between radical feminists and the Miss Black America Pageant organizers. Robin Morgan, representing the NYRW, declared, "basically, we're against all beauty contests.... We deplore Miss Black America as much as Miss White America but we understand the black issues involved."10 On the other hand, the founder of Miss Black America, J. Morris Anderson, explained, "We're not protesting against beauty. We're protesting because the beauty of the black woman has been ignored."11 While radical feminists demanded that Americans stop judging women based on their appearance, African American activists sought to challenge white exclusivity in the world of beauty.12 By juxtaposing the Miss Black America Pageant with the NYRW protest, students can see the commonalities and tensions between feminists and black civil rights activists, who did not necessarily cooperate or envision the same end result as they sought racial and sexual equality. 6
      By introducing students to both Miss America Pageant protests, instructors can accomplish several objectives. As a survey instructor, I am continually seeking ways to spice up a course heavy in lectures by generating discussion in the classroom. The Miss America Pageant protests offer abundant material for lively discussions. An investigation of the pageant itself sparks discussion of the racism and sexism of mid-twentieth-century American beauty norms, and it helps students understand the culture that feminists and civil rights advocates were critiquing. Students grappling with twenty-first-century normative beauty culture show particular interest in studying the history of women's struggle with beauty expectations. I have found that, for most of my students, beauty pageants remain controversial and incite debate over women's status and public image. My students have enjoyed discussing the ways earlier generations sought to challenge normative culture. Fortunately, the protestors left behind a useful record of their efforts. By studying these primary sources, students can explore the goals and tactics of these activists, while gaining valuable experience interpreting primary sources. The documents I would recommend for analysis illustrate the events of September 7, 1968, from a few distinct perspectives, and many students—recognizing the disagreements within their sources—will read their primary documents critically, searching for their own answers. Furthermore, the primary documents have the virtue of being short and lively enough that students are likely to read and even enjoy them. 7
      So how exactly would an instructor incorporate the Miss America Pageant protests into the curriculum? In my U.S. survey syllabus, I devote at least one full class period to discussion of the pageant protests, usually scheduled in conjunction with a second day devoted to a lecture on second-wave feminism generally. Given the growth of "liberal" feminist groups such as National Organization for Women and the Women's Equity Action League in the 1960s and 1970s, it is important to clarify that radical feminists were part of a larger, national movement for equal rights for women. I have structured the Miss America class as a combination of lecture and large group discussion. While the instructor's active presence unfortunately stifles some debate and creative thinking on the part of the students, I believe it is important for instructors to direct class discussion and provide historical context to prevent students from stalling out on an ahistorical debate over present-day beauty culture. In a classroom with about thirty-five students, I have had no problem opening up a lively and inclusive discussion; however, some instructors might prefer to break large classes into smaller groups for discussions of the documents. 8
      I would recommend assigning three documents for students to read before class. Any discussion of the women's liberation protest should include the pamphlet distributed by the NYRW at the protest, entitled "No More Miss America!"13 This pamphlet summarizes the objectives of the radical feminists in protesting the beauty pageant, and it helps demonstrate radical feminists' protest tactics and ideological background. Another invaluable document is "A Critique of the Miss America Protest," written shortly after the protest by a leading participant, Carol Hanisch.14 Finally, I would suggest assigning The New York Times' coverage of the Miss Black America Pageant, "There's Now Miss Black America."15 All of these short, accessible documents (totaling approximately ten pages) capture the views and intentions of the protestors.16 9
      It is helpful (and a lot of fun) to introduce students to the Miss America Pageant itself before moving to the protests. Given the declining fortunes of the pageant in recent years (the pageant has recently been dumped by networks due to low ratings) few students are aware of the massive popularity of the pageant in the 1960s.17 At the time of the protests, the pageant was a national institution. In 1965, the pageant had a live audience of 25,000 in Atlantic City, and more importantly, as many as 27 million television viewers, "the largest TV audience for any commercially sponsored program."18 During the 1960s, the pageant was ranked as either the first or second most popular broadcast in the nation eight out of ten years.19 Given the high ratings and national publicity accorded to the pageant and Miss America herself, it is likely that many American girls were raised with the dream of becoming Miss America. In 1960s America, at a time when few girls were encouraged to aspire to be the nation's president, a scientist, a CEO, or a sports hero, becoming Miss America was one of the loftiest goals a girl could have. 10
      One way to illustrate the grip the pageant had on the American public is to make use of the PBS website, "Miss America: American Experience" (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/index.html) in the classroom. One of the "special features" of the website is a video archive, providing easy access to video clips from the pageants of the past. Beginning in 1954, the pageant was televised, and many of the video clips on this website date from the 1950s and 1960s.20 There are clips of the question and answer portion of the contest, featuring host Bert Parks flirting with the contestants, as well as clips from the "talent" portion of the contest, showing contestants singing, dancing, and giving dramatic readings from plays. These video archives offer primary evidence of the image that the Miss America candidates projected in pursuit of the crown, and this visual evidence helps to stimulate conversations on the pageant's role as a cultural institution. 11
      Before showing the clips, I ask students to think about the ways cultural institutions such as the pageant shape our gender and racial norms, and the reasons the 1968 protestors might have focused on this particular institution for their demonstrations. I typically show students a newsreel (number eight) dating from 1964, which features footage of the contestants (all young, white women) in swimsuits, parading down the runway, while the audience watches through binoculars. "For the statistically minded," the announcer provides the winner's measurements.21 Instructors might also show students a clip from the "question and answer" portion of the pageant. Clip number three, dating from 1961, is especially entertaining; it features a nervous Miss Minnesota fielding Parks' questions about her odds in the marriage market and the significance of the space race. Altogether, these video clips highlight the pageant's voyeuristic focus on the contestants' bodies. Also, the clips give students a brief glimpse of many American's expectations and ideals of femininity in the 1960s. 12
      After showing the video clips, it is helpful to outline a brief history of the pageant so students have some basic background on this popular cultural institution. The Miss America Pageant was first staged in 1921 as "Atlantic City's Inter-City beauty contest," a commercial booster for the Boardwalk in the late summer, when tourists began to depart for the season.22 During its early years, the pageant was occasionally cancelled due to economic troubles, but it especially suffered from charges that it fostered sexual immorality.23 In an effort to improve the reputation of the pageant, the financial backers hired Lenora Slaughter in 1935; she worked as the pageant director until 1967.24 Slaughter instituted a series of rules mandating that contestants be of "good character." Contestants were required to be eighteen years of age and unmarried, and they had to adhere to a strict code of sexual morality. Candidates who had any un-chaperoned contact with men or a trace of a sexual past risked disqualification.25 Through the mid-1960s, rules forbid contestants from speaking to men without a chaperone present, from smoking, and from entering cocktail lounges, inns, or taverns that served alcoholic beverages.26 A contract dating from 1948, available on the American Experience website (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/filmmore/ps.html), helps illustrate the mid-century expectations of female "decorum," and can spark discussion of the pageant organizers' definition of "respectability" in the mid-twentieth-century.27 13
      Over half a century later, pageant organizers continue to scrutinize contestants' sexual pasts. In recent years, controversies over nude photographs forced Miss America 1984, Vanessa Williams, and Miss North Carolina 2002, Rebekah Revels, to surrender their crowns in disgrace.28 Current rules for the national contest still emphasize sexual respectability, and several state contracts specify that contestants will be disqualified if it is discovered that they were ever pregnant or involved in an act of "moral turpitude."29 Just as in the mid-twentieth century, the focus on "character" hinges on the contestant's presumed virginity. It might be useful to ask students to discuss the significance of this gendered definition of character. In particular, students could discuss whether men's sexual pasts were ever judged in similar ways. As we shall see, feminist protestors argued that this hostility to female sexual experience created a paradoxical standard of morality, or a "Madonna-Whore combination," for women who were competing for the judges' admiration wearing swimsuits.30 One of the priorities of the women's movement has been raising awareness about sexual double standards and mixed messages that women and girls receive regarding their bodies. The Miss America Pageant provides students with a good introduction to this issue. 14
      One of the most significant characteristics of the mid-century pageant was its racism. The 1948 contract mentioned above includes a rule that contestants "be in good health and of the white race."31 It was not until 1970—two years after the first Miss Black America Pageant—that an African American woman participated in the national pageant as a contestant. Indeed, until 1970, the only African Americans to appear in the pageant served as "black slaves garbed in skins" charged with pulling the 1921 pageant winners on a parade float along the Atlantic City Boardwalk.32 The pageant and its directors actively discouraged diversity. Lenora Slaughter pressured Bess Myerson, Miss America 1945, to change her name before competing in the pageant to something that would hide her Jewish background.33 It appears that Slaughter and the Miss America Organization believed that the "respectability" of the pageant hinged on the exclusion of ethnic and racial minorities. The pageant's policies can spark discussion on the ways popular culture stigmatized minority women and maintained racial hierarchies. 15
      For over thirty years, Slaughter worked to link the Miss America Pageant with ideals of respectable femininity. By the 1950s, many Americans believed that the pageant contestants exemplified the feminine ideal; arguably, the pageant itself shaped the nation's definition of womanhood. So what qualities did it take to be "Miss America?" First and foremost, appearance was crucial: she had to be white, young, and slender, and she must have shiny hair and symmetrical features. Beginning in 1938, contestants were required to supplement their good looks by demonstrating talents such as singing, dancing, or baton twirling.34 While contestants were expected to demonstrate talents, they were not supposed to be passionate about politics or social change. Judith Anne Ford (Miss America 1969) responded to a question about the protests at the Chicago Democratic National Convention—which had taken place about a week before the protests in Atlantic City—by commenting, "That's controversial.... I hate to talk about this. It's so controversial." New York Times reporter Charlotte Curtis suggested that this "is what Miss Americas are supposed to say."35 Notably, social "platforms" were not introduced to the competition until 1988, after a winner devoted her year in the limelight to advocating for the terminally ill.36 In the 1960s, the pageant fare focused on the contestants' conformity to gender norms, and offered few opportunities for the contestants to distinguish themselves through intellectual or civic achievement. 16
      After giving students a sense of what the pageant itself was like in 1968—highlighting especially its emphasis on sexual and social respectability, racial exclusivity, and normative beauty—I move on to the protests. When studying the feminist protest of the Miss America Pageant, the best place to start is with the pamphlet the NYRW handed out in Atlantic City, "No More Miss America!" Robin Morgan, the principle organizer of the protest, was primarily responsible for writing the pamphlet.37 Two years after the protest, she included it in an anthology of women's liberation documents she edited, entitled Sisterhood is Powerful.38 The pamphlet offered a list of ten objections to the pageant and it briefly outlined some of the key tactics the protestors intended to adopt for the Atlantic City protest. Altogether, the pamphlet provides a great introduction to the ideology and the activism of the women's liberation movement. 17
      "No More Miss America!" was the first public statement of the movement's beliefs; therefore, the objections to the Miss America Pageant listed in this pamphlet anticipated many of the issues feminists would subsequently tackle in debates over women's status. In order to get students to interpret the document, instructors might ask questions such as these:
  1. According to the pamphlet, why are the NYRW protesting the pageant?
  2. What can we learn about the radical feminists by analyzing this document? For example, what other movements might they be involved in?
Responding to the first question can take a while, since the pamphlet lists ten objections to the pageant. First, and most obviously, the protestors critiqued the emphasis that the pageant (and society generally) placed on women's appearance. The NYRW argued, "women in our society [are] forced daily to compete for male approval, enslaved by ludicrous 'beauty' standards we ourselves are conditioned to take seriously." This first, primary point cuts to the heart of radical feminists' objections to normative beauty culture. It can be helpful to read this brief quote aloud and ask students what they think about this claim. Do they share the feminists' belief that women are "forced" to conform to beauty standards? What did the pamphlet's authors mean when they said that women were "conditioned" to seek male approval? Given the pressure college students (male and especially female) face to meet impossibly high standards of beauty, I have found that many students have strong opinions on these subjects. For instructors, the challenge will not be instigating discussion on the topic, but containing it to the 1968 pageant protests.		 18
      The other objections listed in the pamphlet can serve as a lesson on the origins of radical feminism. The leading participants in the women's liberation movement had their start in the civil rights movement, antiwar protests, and the student left.39 The pamphlet reflects these concerns by critiquing the pageant's racism and its complicity in both the Vietnam War and consumer culture. Specifically, "No More Miss America!" pointed to the absence of Black, Puerto Rican, Alaskan, Hawaiian, Mexican American, and American Indian pageant winners. The protestors decried the fact that Miss America "went to Vietnam to pep-talk our husbands, fathers, sons and boyfriends into dying and killing with a better spirit," serving as a "Military Death Mascot." Finally, the NYRW described Miss America as "a walking commercial for the Pageant's sponsors." Throughout, the pamphlet echoed the language and ideology of the student left. The protestors objected to the "win-or-you're-worthless competitive disease" and the emphasis the pageant placed on conformity to "The Man['s]" expectations. The New Left and the counterculture shared these concerns. 19
      However, some of the objections the NYRW voiced suggest a growing focus on the problems women, in particular, faced. The NYRW contended that the contest reflected a beauty culture in which "women must be young, juicy, [and] malleable:" after contestants ardently competed for the title, they only served as "Miss America" for a single year. Frustrated that social expectations pushed young girls to win beauty pageants and boys to run for political office, the pamphlet characterized the pageant winner as receiving "the Irrelevant Crown on the Throne of Mediocrity," and argued that the pageant compounded low expectations for women, treating them like mere "specimens" at a 4-H show. Morgan described women's frustration with the "unbeatable Madonna-Whore combination" that pervaded the pageant, as contestants' sexual morality was relentlessly scrutinized while their bodies were displayed. The pamphlet suggested that this insistence that women balance sexiness with wholesomeness presented women with an irreconcilable schizophrenia. According to the pamphlet, the beauty ideals promoted by the pageant organizers created an inescapable and inflexible prescription for women everywhere, since "The Pageant exercises Thought Control, [and] attempts to sear the Image onto our minds."40 20
      In addition to teaching students about early radical feminist ideology, "No More Miss America!" offers a great case study of a feminist protest, particularly if it is read with Carol Hanisch's "Critique" and contemporary news reports. It is useful to ask students questions about how the pamphlet described the protest itself, such as:
  1. According to the readings, what tactics did the radical feminists employ in this protest? What did the protestors intend to accomplish in Atlantic City?
  2. What might critics have said about these tactics?
  3. Do you think these criticisms would be legitimate? What might protestors have done differently, and why?
According to the pamphlet, feminists intended the protest to be a "day-long boardwalk-theater event," featuring "Picket Lines; Guerilla Theater; Leafleting; Lobbying Visits to the contestants urging our sisters to reject the Pageant Farce and join us; a huge Freedom Trash Can... [the announcement of ] a Boycott of all those commercial products related to the Pageant, and ... a Women's Liberation rally at midnight when Miss America is crowned on live television." In an attempt to win opportunities for female policemen and journalists, the protestors intended to decline male journalists interviews and resist arrest by male cops. The pamphlet also explained that, while the protest was open to women of all ages, races, and political persuasions, men would not be permitted to join the protest. The sexual separatism adopted by the NYRW at this protest has sparked a great deal of controversy in my classes, and it has been a useful entrée to a discussion of the strengths and limitations of separatism as an activist strategy generally.		 21
      While students can use the NYRW pamphlet to explore the radical feminists' intentions, it is necessary to turn next to Carol Hanisch's critique of the protest to explore the impressions these tactics made on their audiences. By comparing "No More Miss America!" with Hanisch's critique of the protest, history instructors can illustrate that the women's movement was neither static nor of uniform opinion. Within a few months of the protests, Carol Hanisch—a member of the NYRW credited with coming up with the idea for the women's liberation protest in the first place—had written a thoughtful analysis of "What Can Be Learned: A Critique of the Miss America Protest."41 Hanisch's "Critique" offers insight into the structure—or the lack of structure—of the early women's movement and the challenges of uniting women to change a culture they had grown up with. When asking students to interpret the document, the following questions might be useful:
  1. Using Hanisch's "Critique" as a guide, what were the strengths and weaknesses of the early women's movement?
  2. What suggestions did Hanisch offer to improve the movement? How effective do you think this advice was?
 22
      Hanisch's "Critique" can help students understand several important points about the nature of the women's movement in the 1960s and 1970s. One key dilemma radical feminists faced was described by Jo Freeman, a participant in and a historian of the women's movement, as the "tyranny of structurelessness."42 Radical feminists, disgusted with the elitism and male-dominated hierarchy they encountered in politics, the workplace, and even the social movements they had previously participated in, were ideologically opposed to "leaders" within their own ranks. Hanisch indicates the advantage of a movement without leaders, commenting, "many voices are more powerful than one."43 However, she also implies that there were disadvantages of trying to engage in social activism without leadership. Students might discuss the problems structurelessness created for the pageant protest, in particular. 23
      While Hanisch was disturbed by the "egotistic individualism" that came with an informal, unstructured social movement, her primary fear was that the protest appeared "anti-womanist" in the eyes of some observers, particularly the contestants themselves. Hanisch, who participated in the protest, was disappointed by signs carried by other feminists reading "Miss America Sells It" and "Miss America is a Big Falsie," which she believed alienated the beauty contestants from the feminists' cause.44 Her concerns illustrate the difficulty of tackling a ubiquitous institution such as beauty culture. Feminists walk a fine line when critiquing normative standards of beauty that are upheld and even celebrated by many women. Many of my students—and many radical feminists—have argued that beauty pageants can afford some women a significant measure of personal pleasure and a sense of power. Pageant contestants have the opportunity to win fame and fortune because of their conformity to pageant beauty standards. However, Hanisch explained that the "main point in the demonstration [was] that all women were hurt by beauty competition—Miss America as well as ourselves."45 A debate over the possibilities for women's agency—and individual women's level of responsibility for the perpetuation of a sexist culture—emerged at the very first radical feminist protest (this is a debate that continues to complicate feminist activism today). Hanisch encouraged feminists to find a way to challenge the competitiveness among women inspired by beauty culture without criticizing the women who were participating in that culture. 24
      Hanisch and many other radical feminists argued that the beauty standards glorified by the pageant divided and ranked women based on characteristics such as race, class, age, and body size; and the effort to meet the prescribed standards of beauty culture demeaned and undermined all women, whether they were pageant winners or viewers. In her critique, Hanisch suggested that the feminist protestors failed to convey solidarity with women who worked within institutions such as the Miss America Pageant to win a measure of (in her eyes, compromised) power. Of course, this failure might reflect that in the eyes of some feminists, beauty pageant contestants were serving to perpetuate sexist and racist standards for other women by their participation. One debate that emerged among second-wave radical feminists was over the agency individual women exercised in a sexist society. Should radical feminists hold themselves and other women (for example, pageant contestants) accountable for perpetuating a sexist beauty culture? It is a difficult undertaking to critique sexist and racist standards of beauty without implicitly criticizing women who labor every day to conform to those standards. However, censuring women for their conformity to beauty prescriptions does little to build a social movement of women to critique those prescriptions. Rooting out sexism and racism in beauty culture was clearly no easy task. 25
      To paint a complete picture of the protests in 1968, students should also recognize that African American activists organized a separate protest that differed in tactics and ideology from the New York Radical Women's protest. J. Morris Anderson, the primary organizer of Miss Black America, explained that he was staging a pageant on the same night in the same city as Miss America to draw attention to the exclusion of African American women in the national contest. Unfortunately, the Miss Black America organizers and participants did not leave behind easily accessible sources describing their goals with this pageant; however, Judy Klemesrud's coverage of the Miss Black America Pageant in The New York Times has the virtue of being both accessible and informative. 26
      Klemesrud's article, "There's Now Miss Black America," helps to illustrate some of the cultural changes sought by Black Nationalists in the late 1960s and the significance class and sex played in defining black activism. When introducing this brief article, I ask students to consider the following questions:
  1. In what ways did Saundra Williams ("Miss Black America") reflect an interest in black culture? Were her aesthetic choices and her hobbies political? What are the challenges faced by activists who seek to politicize culture?
  2. Would the Miss Black America Pageant equally serve the interests of black men and women? Would it equally serve African Americans of all economic backgrounds? Why or why not?
The article on Saundra Williams describes "Miss Black America" as a middle-class, college-educated Philadelphian. In other words, as a young, prosperous black Northerner, Williams fit the demographic profile for many African Americans involved in Black Nationalism in the late 1960s. A member of the NAACP and a founding member of her college's "Black Awareness Movement," Williams had experience combating segregation through nonviolent civil disobedience. She described organizing a "silent protest march" to integrate a restaurant in Princess Anne, Maryland. However, Williams also reflected the growing visibility of black pride and politicization of black culture through an interest in African dance styles and through her "natural" hairstyle. According to Judy Klemesrud, Williams was "what the new black woman is all about."46		 27
      This article about the Miss Black America Pageant helps to illustrate the tensions within the black and feminist communities that complicated black women's struggle for equality. Williams identified herself as middle-class, and she clearly enjoyed privileges afforded by her family's economic status, including educational and cultural opportunities that many within the African American community were denied. As a woman, she also faced issues not just of racial oppression, but also sexual oppression. Twice in this short article, Klemesrud raised the issue of Williams's identity as a black woman in a racist and sexist culture. When asked explicitly about the New York Radical Women protest (described by Klemesrud as led by "mostly white" women), Klemesrud claimed that Williams "looked bored." However, Klemesrud notes that during the Miss Black America Pageant, Williams called for equal division of housework between husbands and wives. It appears that, while Williams was unwilling (or unwelcome) to ally with white radical feminists, she shared radical feminists' concerns about the sexual division of labor. For African American women, dealing with double oppression (sexism and racism) has complicated their participation in both black and feminist organizations. 28
      In particular, this brief article about Saundra Williams illustrates some of the challenges faced by Black Nationalists who sought to celebrate African American culture and strengthen the black community. These challenges are particularly important when considering the shift toward Black Nationalism and cultural politics in the late 1960s. Black Nationalists sought to instill pride in young blacks and build a strong, independent black community. However, emphasis on a separate and proud black culture presupposes a clear definition of the black identity. Like many Black Nationalists, Williams worked to build pride in black identity, commenting "With my title, I can show black women that they too are beautiful, even though they do have large noses and thick lips."47 However, identity is shaped not merely by race, it also reflects class and gender backgrounds, among other components. While Williams's identity as an African American woman shaped her opportunities and experiences, as a college-educated woman, she ultimately may have had more in common with young middle-class white students than she did with poor or rural African Americans. Williams's background illustrates that there were pre-existing tensions and overlapping identities within this community that complicated the goal of celebrating "black" culture. 29
      The Miss Black America Pageant's goal of celebrating black female beauty also raises several questions that students might consider. Is it possible for a black beauty pageant to inspire a collective change in self-esteem among black people about their looks and the value of their culture, or would the beauty pageant undermine women's confidence in their appearances if they felt they did not measure up to Williams' looks? And would encouraging poor black women to take pride in their looks materially improve their lives? Given the pressing economic problems within the black community in the late-1960s (a time when urban black economic frustration boiled over in a series of riots), would a focus on participation in a commercial beauty culture merely distract African Americans from more pressing economic issues such as access to jobs and education? Essentially, it is helpful to ask the students to weigh the merits and weaknesses of cultural protest. It is likely that they could come up with many reasons the protest would have been useful, but also many shortcomings of this form of activism. 30
      Ultimately, this question—measuring the possibilities and limitations of cultural change through activism—is the main issue students should consider when investigating the Miss America Pageant protests. Both the New York Radical Women and the organizers of Miss Black America were attempting to accomplish social and cultural change by critiquing a cultural institution. Students familiar with twentieth-century history are certainly familiar with activists who sought to change political systems, foreign policy, or the economy through protest, since most United States surveys introduce them to civil rights and suffrage, antiwar, and labor movements. By studying two protests at a beauty pageant, this lesson will encourage students to think more broadly about what constitutes "history." When examining the key events of 1968, it is easy to focus on the massive political shifts of the presidential election, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, or the Tet Offensive. However, as the Miss America Pageant protests illustrate, cultural events of 1968 shaped the nation's history in important ways and sparked ongoing, national debates, as well. By discussing the rationales and the tactics employed by feminists and black activists in these 1968 protests, students will better understand the goals of 1960s activists and the culture they have inherited. 31


Notes

I would like to thank Matthew Kreydatus, Rebecca Wrenn, and Melissa Ooten for all their support.

1.  If you cannot resist the temptation, I would recommend Step by Step: Building a Feminist Movement, 1941–1977 by Joyce Follet, 56 minutes (1998).

2.  "No More Miss America!" in Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement, ed. Robin Morgan (New York: Vintage Books, 1970), 586.

3.  Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967–1975 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989), 93.

4.  Lindsy Van Gelder, "How We Got Here: The Truth about Bra-Burners," Ms. 3 (September/October 1992): 80–81.

5..  Women's Liberation, "No More Miss America," New York Free Press (5 September 1968): 2. See also Robin Morgan, Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist (New York: Vintage Books, 1978), 65.

6.  Charlotte Curtis, "Miss America Pageant is Picketed by 100 Women," New York Times, 8 September 1968, sec. L, p. 81.

7.  Harriet Van Horne, "Female Firebrands," New York Post, 9 September 1968. See Art Buchwald, "The Bra Burners," New York Post, 12 September 1968 for another scathing, and sexist, critique of the protest.

8.  Judy Klemesrud, "There's Now Miss Black America," New York Times, 9 September 1968, sec. L, p. 54.

9.  "Face to Face With Miss Black America," Seventeen 28 (March 1969): 151.

10.  Curtis, "Miss America Pageant is Picketed by 100 Women."

11.  Ibid.

12.  See also Maxine Leeds Craig, Ain't I a Beauty Queen? Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).

13.  This document is available in Robin Morgan, ed., Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement (New York: Vintage Books, 1970), 584–588.

14.  This document was published in Notes from the Second Year, ed. Shulamith Firestone (New York: New York Radical Women, 1970), 85–86, but it was written by November of 1968. See typed and dated copy, Carol Hanisch, "What Can Be Learned: A Critique of the Miss America Protest," 27 November 1968, Robin Morgan Papers, Boxes 12 and 14, Duke University Women's Archives. It has recently been reprinted in Radical Feminism, ed. Barbara Crow (New York: New York University Press, 2000), 378–381.

15.  Judy Klemesrud. "There's Now Miss Black America," New York Times, 9 September 1968, p. 54. You might also consider "Face to Face with Miss Black America," Seventeen 38 (March 1969): 151, although it is a bit more challenging to find.

16.  If you want to provide students with a sense of the media's response to the protests, there are rich sources in The New York Times and Life that describe the hostility of the audience, but support the basic agenda of the protestors. Women authored all three of these columns, largely because the NYRW refused to give interviews to men, hoping to challenge the male domination of the media. This was a tactic first developed by African American civil rights activists, who would only give interviews to black reporters. Women's Liberation, "No More Miss America," New York Free Press, 5 September 1968, p. 2. Charlotte Curtis, "Miss America Pageant Is Picketed by 100 Women," New York Times, 8 September 1968, p. 81; Shana Alexander, "Hooray! Getting Back to Normal," Life 65 (20 September 1968): 28. Opinion columns in the New York Post written by Harriet Van Horne and Art Buchwald offer insight into the hostility shown by some contemporaries to the protestors. Harriet Van Horne, "Female Firebrands," New York Post, 9 September 1968; Art Buchwald, "The Bra Burners," New York Post, 12 September 1968.

17.  Deborah Starr Seibel, "Why Miss America Can't Get a Date," Broadcasting and Cable 135.1 (3 January 2005): 1.

18.  John Canaday, "What Miss America is Made Of," New York Times, 18 September 1965, p. 124.

19.  Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin, "There She Is, Miss America:" The Politics of Sex, Beauty, and Race in America's Most Famous Pageant (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 8.

20.  There are newsreels on the site, however, dating back to the first pageant, in 1921. Watson and Martin, "There She Is, Miss America," 7.

21.  Pageant Newsreel #8 (1964), Miss America Video Vault, American Experience http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/sfeature/sf_clips.html.

22.  Watson and Martin, "There She Is, Miss America," 3.

23.  "Y.W.C.A. Opens War on Beauty Contest; Calls Atlantic City Parade Peril to Girls," New York Times, 18 April 1924, p. 16.

24.  Watson and Martin, "There She Is, Miss America," 4–5.

25.  A. R. Riverol, Live from Atlantic City: The History of the Miss America Pageant Before, After and in Spite of Television (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1992), 33, 42.

26.  McCandlish Phillips, "Miss America Pageant: A Carefully Promoted Spectacle Dedicated to Glory of Atlantic City Business," New York Times, 6 September 1964, sec. L, p. 38.

27.  "Primary Sources: 1948 Pageant Contract," American Experience http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/filmmore/ps.html.

28.  Watson and Martin, "There She Is, Miss America," 12, 20 n. 4.

29.  "Become a Consultant," Miss America http://www.missamerica.org/competition-info/become-a-contestant.asp [accessed August 16, 2006]. Contestant Rules, Miss Virginia, http://www.missva.com/Contestant_Rules.htm [accessed August 16, 2006].

30.  "No More Miss America!" Sisterhood is Powerful, 588.

31.  "Primary Sources: 1948 Pageant Contract," American Experience.

32.  Riverol, Live from Atlantic City, 14, 20.

33.  Myerson refused to change her name. "People and Events: Breaking the Color Line at the Pageant," American Experience http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/peopleevents/e_inclusion.html [accessed August 18, 2006].

34.  Riverol, Live from Atlantic City, 33.

35.  Curtis, "Along With Miss America," New York Times, 9 September 1968, sec. L, p. 54.

36.  "Timeline," American Experience http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/timeline/timeline3.html [accessed August 25, 2006].

37.  Echols, Daring To Be Bad, 95. A typed draft of the brochure, covered with editorial comments, is available in Robin Morgan's Papers, Box 14, Duke University Women's Archives.

38.  Robin Morgan, editor of Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement, included "No More Miss America!" in this 1970 compilation.

39.  Sara Evans, Personal Politics: The Roots of Women's Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left (New York: Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1979).

40.  "No More Miss America!" 588.

41.  Carol Hanisch, "What Can Be Learned: A Critique of the Miss America Protest," 27 November 1968, Robin Morgan Papers, Boxes 12 and 14, Duke University Women's Archives.

42.  Joreen [Jo Freeman], "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," The Second Wave 2.1 (1972).

43.  Hanisch, "A Critique of the Miss America Protest," Radical Feminism, 380.

44.  Ibid., 378–381.

45.  Ibid., 378.

46.  Klemesrud, "There's Now Miss Black America," New York Times, 9 September 1968, sec. L, p. 54.

47.  Ibid.

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