Miss America: Ericka Dunlap - Center Stage

WHEN Ericka Dunlap of Orlando, Fla., was crowned the new Miss America, it was the culmination of what she calls "a lifelong dream"--one that began after her mother gave her a program from a pageant when she was 6 years old. All of the preparation and persistence paid off for the 21-year-old University of Central Florida graduate who plans to law degree and specialize in sports and entertainment law. Judges selected her over 50 other women, including two Harvard University graduates, a physician and six other women either in law school or making preparations to go there.

The youngest of five children, who's enjoying all of the attention that comes with the selection, has made a seamless transition from being the first African-American to be crowned Miss Florida (in the pageant's 68-year history) to winning the most prestigious of beauty pageants. "The words 'Ericka, Miss America,' go together really nicely," she says.

Dunlap, who won her first pageant at 8, already has begun to spread her message to promote cultural diversity and inclusiveness, which, she says, will continue to be at the forefront during her yearlong reign as Miss America. "The ideal of inclusion is what our nation needs right now," says the seventh Black Miss America, who was crowned (at right) by another Black Miss America, Erika Harold. "We are facing very tough times."

It was a different kind of tough for Dunlap way back at Orlando's Boone High School when other students teased her daily about her ambition to one day claim the top crown in the world of beauty pageants. But she gets the last laugh. "For those who didn't believe me and didn't think I deserve it," she says, "ha, ha, ha, I'm Miss America."

COPYRIGHT 2003 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group