Vanessa L. Williams and Miss America

Vanessa Williams
Williams in 2004.
Known for	Miss America (First African American) – 1984
Title	Miss America 1984 Miss New York 1983 Miss Syracuse 1983
Term	September 17, 1983 – July 22, 1984 (resigned)
Predecessor	Debra Maffett
Successor	Suzette Charles
Awards	Preliminary Talent (Voice), "Happy Days Are Here Again" Preliminary Swimsuit

Vanessa Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American actress, singer, and fashion designer. She initially gained recognition as the first African American recipient of the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984 in September 1983. Several weeks before the end of her reign, however, a scandal arose when Penthouse magazine bought and published unauthorized nude photographs of Williams. Williams was pressured to relinquish her title, and was succeeded by the first runner-up, Miss New Jersey 1983, Suzette Charles. Thirty-two years later, in September 2015, when Williams served as head judge for the Miss America 2016 pageant, Miss America CEO Sam Haskell made a public apology to her for the events of 1984.

When she was 20 years old, Williams was approached by scouts from the Miss Syracuse pageant who had seen her perform while a student at Syracuse University. Despite their encouragement, Williams was not interested in participating in the pageant. She later changed her mind when she realized that she could earn scholarship money. Although she had never participated in a beauty pageant before, she won the title of Miss Syracuse in April 1983. She then went on to win Miss New York in July 1983 During the preliminaries for the Miss America pageant, Williams won "Preliminary Swimsuit" and "Preliminary Talent" (with a vocal performance of "Happy Days Are Here Again"). She was also crowned Miss America 1984 on September 17, 1983, becoming the first African American woman to win the title.

During her reign as Miss America Williams was criticized in some venues for winning. She later stated that "there were a lot of people that did not want me to be representative of the United States and Miss America. And not just white people alone. There were a lot of people who had issues [...] I was too light. My eyes were the wrong color. My hair wasn't the right texture and getting criticism for being who I was." She was also the target of persistent racist hate mail and death threats (which she documented in her memoir, You Have No Idea). Thirty years later, when Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluri (who was also a former Miss New York and Miss Syracuse) became the target of a racist social media backlash, Williams recounted the similarities with her own experiences, stating that she "wrote a book about everything that I went through, and I spent a lot of time talking about the death threats, the FBI, the sharpshooters ... it was a graver situation and more dangerous years ago—the change that was happening and the uproar because of the color of my skin."