On February 1, 1919, a beauty pageant was held at the Chu Chin Chow Ball at the Hotel des Artistes in New York City.

[6][7][8][9][10] Rather, the origins of the "Miss America Pageant" lie in an event entitled The Fall Frolic held on September 25, 1920, in Atlantic City.

This event was designed to bring business to the Boardwalk: "three hundred and fifty gaily decorated rolling wicker chairs were pushed along the parade route.

However, the main attractions were the young 'maidens' who sat in the rolling chairs, headed by a Miss Ernestine Cremona, who was dressed in a flowing white robe and represented 'Peace.

[2] The pageant continued consistently over the next eight decades except for the years 1928–1932, when it was temporarily shut down due to financial problems associated with the Great Depression and suggestions that it promoted "loose morals.

[14][15] During the early years of the pageant, under the directorship of Lenora Slaughter, it became racially segregated via rule number seven that stated: "contestants must be of good health and of the white race.

[18][19][20][21] As the only Jewish contestant, Myerson was encouraged by the pageant directors to change her name to "Bess Meredith"[45] or "Beth Merrick",[18] but she refused.

[18][45] After winning the title (and as a Jewish Miss America), Myerson received few endorsements[18][19][20][21][45] and later recalled that "I couldn't even stay in certain hotels […] there would be signs that read no coloreds, no Jews, no dogs.

[51] With the rise of second-wave feminism and the civil rights movement during the 1960s, the Miss America pageant became the subject of a series of protests that attacked it as sexist, racist, and part of U.S. militarism.

[54] Morgan later stated that the Miss America pageant "was chosen as a target for a number of reasons: it has always been a lily-white, racist contest; the winner tours Vietnam, entertaining the troops as a 'Murder Mascot'; the whole gimmick is one commercial shillgame to sell the sponsor's products.

[25][56] They thus crowned a sheep as Miss America and symbolically destroyed a number of feminine products, including false eyelashes, high-heeled shoes, curlers, hairspray, makeup, girdles, corsets, and bras.

[62] Williams later commented that she was one of five minority contestants that year, noting that ballet dancer Deneen Graham "had already had a cross burned on her front yard because she was the first black Miss North Carolina [1983].

[42][63] Williams was forced to resign seven weeks prior to the end of her time as Miss America, however, after the unauthorized publication of nude photos in Penthouse.

[93][94] Shortly after her win, however, Davuluri became the target of xenophobic and racist comments on social media[95][96][97] relating the proximity of the event date to the 9/11 anniversary and to anti-Indian sentiment.

[95][96][98][99][100] News agencies cited tweets that misidentified her as Muslim or Arab, associated her with groups such as Al-Qaeda, and questioned why she was chosen over Miss Kansas 2013, Theresa Vail[95][96][98][101][102] (a soldier who won the "America's Choice" award and was the first contestant to display tattoos during the swimsuit competition).

[114][115] In September 2014, comedian John Oliver ran a segment on his show, Last Week Tonight, that investigated the Miss America Organization's claim that it is "the world's largest provider of scholarships for women.

[123] In September 2015, Miss America officials announced that the organization granted $5.5 million in scholarships,[124] a number that included all offers of in-kind tuition waivers from multiple schools when a contestant could accept one at most.

[125] In 2019, a lawyer for the Miss America Foundation put the number at $1.3-1.4 million and said that 85% of the money is raised by contestants themselves, through solicitations from friends, family, and businesses.

[126] On March 24, 2016, the Miss America Organization announced a contract renewal with ABC to continue carrying the pageant for the next three years to the 2019 edition.

[128] In late December 2017, HuffPost published an article exposing derogatory emails sent and received by CEO Sam Haskell, board members Tammy Haddad and Lynn Weidner, and lead writer Lewis Friedman.

[130] On December 22, the Miss America Organization (MAO) released statements to USA Today, saying that it was made aware of concerns several months prior.

They stated that the organization does not "condone the use of inappropriate language" and reported that its investigation had determined that Haskell was under "unreasonable distress resulting from intense attacks on his family from disgruntled stakeholders".

[131] Miss America's board of directors also suspended Haskell, who released a statement labeling the HuffPost article "unkind and untrue".

[134] The scandal prompted the pageant's producer, Dick Clark Productions, to cut ties, and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) announced that it was reconsidering its contract with Miss America, with its executive director Chris Howard describing the scandal as "troubling", and both Frank Gilliam, incoming mayor of Atlantic City, and State Senator Colin Bell called for CRDA to end its relationship with Miss America.

[138][37][36] The evening gown competition was dropped; the contestants chose clothing "that makes them feel confident, expresses their personal style, and shows how they hope to advance the role of Miss America.

"[38][140] In interviews, Carlson emphasized the organization's desire to be more welcoming, "open, transparent, [and] inclusive to women," and to prioritize displaying the talent and scholarship in the contestants.

[36] In August 2018, Miss America 2018 Cara Mund gave an interview to The Press of Atlantic City in which she stated that it had "been a tough year.

[148] On September 5, 2018, Fox Rothschild LLP, a law firm based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, filed a breach-of-contract suit against the MAO for failing to pay nearly $100,000 for legal services.

[153] On December 26, 2018; MAO also reinstated the license for the Miss New Jersey organization for one year, contingent on leadership changes and recruitment of new sponsors and board members.

[39] Fleming is an entrepreneur, dress designer, and television producer[162] and she formerly spent over 9 years directing state level Miss USA pageants.