The Miss Hawaii Pageant is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, while its parent, the Miss America Pageant, traces its roots 27 years earlier to 1921. Did the Miss America Pageant block minorities from competing?
The Pageant did have Rule #7 in the 1930s, which stipulated “contestants must be of good health and of the white race.” As late as 1940, all contestants were required to list on their data sheet how far back they could trace their ancestry.
However, when the first Miss Hawaii pageant was held in 1948, the Hawaii organizers petitioned the Miss America Pageant and asked for an exemption. It was granted.
The Miss America tournamentgrew out of a city-wide festival in Atlantic City to boost tourism after Labor Day. The festival was called the “Fall Frolic,” which included an “Inter-City Beauty Contest.” In 1922, the first Miss America was crowned.
The general public was quite critical of these pageants until World War II when beauty queens were enlisted to sell war bonds. The pageants became more reputable when organizers started scrutinizing contestant’s backgrounds and morals. Winners were awarded college scholarships. Since 1945, $300 million in scholarships have been awarded. The contests were becoming more respectable.
In 1948, twenty-year-old Yun Tau Zane, a sophomore at the University of Hawaii, entered the contest that was part of the first 49th State Fair held at Kapiolani Park. At the time, Hawaii expected to be the 49th state, hence the name of the fair.
Irmgard Waiwaiole graced the stage with a beautiful hula and won the pageant. However, rules stipulated that winners had to complete their high school degree by a specified date. “Like many others, World War II had interrupted Waiwaiole’s education and she didn’t earn her degree in time,” says local chiropractor, Dr. Dennis Momyer, president of the Miss Hawaii organization.
“She had to relinquish her crown because she had not graduated from high school,” Momyer continues. “Runner-up Yun Tau Zane was named Miss Hawaii, and became the first Asian American to compete for the Miss America title.”
Zane danced the hula for the talent portion of the contest. “Although she didn’t win, she was voted Miss Congeniality, which came with a $1,000 scholarship,” Momyer says. “Miss Hawaii used the money to earn her teaching certificate from the University of Wisconsin. She taught at Maemae School for 26 years.” Hawaii girls were named Miss Congeniality three times in the first four years they participated in the Miss America Pageant.
Yun Tau Zane paved the way for other minorities to compete in the Miss America Pageant. In 1970, the first black woman to win her state title, Iowa’s Cheryl Brown, made it to Atlantic City as a contestant.
The first Asian American to become Miss America is Hawaii’s Angela Perez Baraquio, who won in 2001.
Many King Street drivers have noticed that there’s a Miss Hawaii Building across the street from Zippy’s near Washington Intermediate. Several people have asked me if it has any relation to the pageant. I looked into it and found that it does not. The Miss Hawaii Building dates to 1947 when Genjira Jinbo was part owner of the Miss Hawaii Manufacturing Company, which made women’s clothing. This was a year before the Miss Hawaii Pageant began.
