1991 Ad

Ebony, Dec, 1990 by Lynn Norment

It was an innocent enough request. The Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer accompanying the newly crowned Miss America in New York's Fulton Market asked her to don her rhinestone tiara for a photograph.

Before the familiar glittery symbol was even in place, dozens of passersby from nearly Wall Street skyscrapers descended on the new beauty queen to get autographs.

Such is life these days for Marjorie Judith Vincent, the 26-year-old Duke University law student who became the nation's darling when she was crowned Miss America 1991 in Atlantic City before millions of television viewers. Everywhere she goes now, people recognize and seek out-the attractive Oak Park, Ill., native. Nobody seems to notice-or care-that she just happens to be Black.

Actually, she is the fourth Black woman to hold the coveted title. Black America was especially surprised by Vincent's victory, for who would have dreamed that, even in the progressive 1990s, there would be back-to-back Black Miss Americas.

It wasn't that long ago since Vanessa Williams, now a successful recording artist, became the first Black woman in the pageant's history to win the title in 1982. And then, when veterinary medicine student Debbye Turner won the pageant in 1989, some saw it as an indication that perhaps, just maybe, the once rigid American beauty standard of blond hair, blue eyes, cream-colored skin and keen facial features was indeed changing to include the classic features of Black women.

But to have a reigning Black Miss America crown a new Miss America who is also Black was, well, simply unimaginable.

That is, until it became reality when the supertalented Marjorie Judith Vincent, the daughter of hardworking Haitian immigrants, wowed the pageant judges with her outstanding classical piano performance, which accounted for 40 percent of the competition. And during the interview segment (30 percent), Vincent's forceful articulation of her feelings about crimes against women also left a strong impression.

"It's hard to describe how I felt," says the engaging Miss America of her stunning victory. "Everything happened so quickly that night. When they called my name, I just couldn't believe it. I saw Debbye get crowned last year, and I watched when Vanessa won, and I remember the excitement. I could kind of feel what they were feeling. But when it happens to you, it's incredible! Wonderful!"

But did Vincent think that she, a Black woman, would win the pageant one year after another Black woman had been crowned Miss America?

"Well, they've had blonds for how many times in a row, and they've had Miss Americas from the same state for how many times in a row. So it is no big deal," she says. "It never crossed my mind. I just said that I'm going to get out there and do my best."

For the 5'6", 110-pound Vincent, winning the pageant was indeed a childhood dream come true, and a brassy display of her commitment to accomplishing goals. While a music student at DePaul University in Chicago, she first competed in a local pageant to win scholarship monies for law school. Five years and numerous pageants later, she won the Miss Illinois Pageant in June.

Because of the demands of law school, she seriously questioned whether another round of pageants was worth her time. "I had decided not to enter, then I changed my mind because I didn't want to get older and wish that I had done something that I hadn't" she recalls. "So, that's why I just said 'I'm going to go for it.' I'm glad that I did because here I am. I would have missed out on all of this."

She would have missed out on Bert Parks serenading her with his classic "There she is ...," as well as an extensive new "made in America" wardrobe. She would have missed visiting the White House, Disney World and appearing on The Today Show, Late Night With David Letterman, and the Joan Rivers Show. And she would have missed getting a congratulatory telegram from Arsenio Hall saying that she had "lifted" his spirits when he heard that he was the person she wanted to meet most during her reign.

She also would have missed out on the $35, 000 scholarship, the $1,500 talent competition prize, the $40,000 white Corvette with red leather interior, and the opportunity to earn several hundred thousand dollars more in appearance fees.

Having studied piano for 14 years, Vincent briefly considered a career as a concert pianist, and many who saw and heard her poised, dramatic performance of Chopin's "Fantasy Impromptu-Opus 66" to win the pageant's talent prize agree that she certainly could have a future in music, if she were so inclined. Being a musician, a performer, is a very lonely life, and I couldn't do that," she says.

Instead, she is set on a career in corporate law. "I like the variety, " she says of the legal profession. "It's demanding. It is exciting. It's versatile. "

Vincent acknowledges, however, that both music and law are pressure-filled professions that require discipline, devotion and an analytical mind.

Leonard Horn, the Atlantic City lawyer who is CEO of The Miss America Organization, says in Barrister magazine: A woman who would enter this type of competition obviously has enthusiasm, courage and zeal, and those are excellent qualities for any lawyer. "