This has definitely been the year for our beautiful black queens in the pageant world. On Saturday, yet another milestone was achieved as Brianna Mason, 23, became the first African American woman to win Miss Tennessee.
According to Knox News, Brianna, who is also known as Miss Greene County, participated in the pageant four times, and this year she received top honors from the six judges at the competition’s final round before being announced the winner.
In a post-competition press conference she said, “I can’t even put into words how special that is, and I knew I was going to be emotional when thinking about this, but like I said I’ve been competing for so long, and there’s a Miss Tennessee room with portraits of all past Miss Tennessee’s and none of them looked like me.”
Brianna, who is a first-grade teacher, will receive a $15,000 scholarship and will represent Tennessee at the upcoming Miss America 2020 competition.
During the press conference, she continued to state, “I’ve made it my goal for the last couple of years to make sure my face gets up there not just for me, but for all of the young ladies who look like me and don’t think they can do it just because of their skin color … I’m here to tell you that it does not matter what your skin color is. It does not matter what your religion is. You can do anything that you want.”
As we previously reported, this year has been the first year that Miss America, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA have all been black women.
Kaliegh Garris was crowned Miss Teen USA while rocking her natural hair, Cheslie Kryst was later crowned Miss USA, and Nia Franklin was crowned Miss America.
Congrats to Brianna Mason on her historic win.
