159: Vanessa Williams, Whitney Houston and Hollywood’s Misogynoir Problem (Make Me Over, Episode 8)
You Must Remember This
Karina Longworth
4.6 • 15.7K Ratings
🗓️ 10 March 2020
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1983, Vanessa Williams became the first black woman to win Miss America. In 1984, a few weeks from the end of her reign, she was forced to step down when she found out Penthouse was going to publish unauthorized nude images of her in their magazine. Williams went on to have a successful singing career and star in movies, but her career trajectory tells more than the story of a black beauty icon who overcame obstacles to make it in Hollywood. It's a story that echoes the legacies of racism, colorism, tokenism and misogynoir (the misogyny experienced specifically by black women) in 20th century Hollywood and how, as a result, black women — from Williams to Whitney Houston — have had to display exceptional talent to make the case that their images are worth circulating and celebrating as beautiful. This episode was written and performed by Cassie da Costa, an entertainment writer for The Daily Beast. She lives in Ojai, California.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Miller |
| 0:05.6 | Walker |
| 0:08.5 | Dixie |
| 0:16.6 | To the final episode of our ongoing series, Make Me Over, a special presentation of you must remember this. |
| 0:25.9 | I'm your host, Karina Longworth. |
| 0:34.4 | Today's storyteller is Cassie De Costa. |
| 0:37.8 | Cassie is an entertainment writer for the Daily Beast and she lives in Ohio, California, |
| 0:42.0 | and she is with me here in the recording studio in Hollywood. |
| 0:46.3 | Cassie is going to help us close this season by talking about a star who is still very much with us. |
| 0:50.1 | Cassie, tell us what made you want to write about Vanessa Williams? |
| 0:56.2 | She's the first black woman to win Miss America in 1983. |
| 1:00.6 | And so there's this entire framework around how we think about black beauty just within the black community. |
| 1:05.8 | And then nowadays it's become a more widespread conversation. |
| 1:14.0 | So I wanted to talk about beauty in the 20th century and Hollywood in a way that would connect all of these ideas |
| 1:19.0 | and also help explore a little bit of who Vanessa Williams is as a public figure and how the start of her fame is connected to the present |
| 1:26.4 | and how that kind of speaks to the range of conversations that have unfolded about black beauty and Hollywood. |
| 1:37.3 | You noted that Vanessa Williams was the first black woman to win Miss America, |
| 1:44.2 | which of course makes her an anomalous figure. |
| 1:49.0 | But in your piece you also tie her to some of the stars of the past before her. |
| 1:51.2 | And then I wonder, like, do you see her as being sort of an influential figure on anybody today? |
| 1:56.1 | That's a good question. |
| 2:01.6 | I'd speak a lot about respectability when I talk about Vanessa Williams because it was the idea that black people |
... |
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