Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day July 20, 1984, Vanessa Williams, the first Black Miss America, was asked to give up her

crown because Penthouse magazine was set to publish nude photographs of Williams in which she posed with another woman.

I guess we should say right away we will get into this timeline, but these photos were taken

before Williams became Miss America, then after she won the crown, they were sold to penthouse became this big

scandal and amidst this scandal the Miss America pageant executive committee

unanimously voted to give the 21-year-old beauty queen 72 hours to relinquish her title.

So here to discuss the Vanessa Williams scandal I think moral panic is the right

phrase nudity race female sexuality it's really a real

amalgam of moral panics from the early a rat king of moral panics exactly that voice is Nicole Hammer of Columbia.

And also with this is Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley.

Hello there.

Hello Jody.

Hi there.

So Kelly, I hinted at the timeline, but these photos are, when they get taken,

when Williams becomes, etc.

So there's so much in this story.

First, we should just start out by saying that like for decades,

African-American women were not allowed to be in pageants.

So the idea that Vanessa Williams is able to participate I should also go back and say she didn't even really want to participate in the pageant she found out that there was a scholarship and so she you know was 20 years old needing to pay for college she's at

Syracuse University and she's like hey you know why not I'll throw my hat in the

...