Madison Whitekiller | |
---|---|
Alma mater | Verdigris High School, Claremore, Oklahoma |
Occupation(s) | Student, Northeastern State University |
Title | Miss Cherokee 2017-18 |
Madison Whitekiller is an American of Native ancestry who was crowned the 2017-18 Miss Cherokee on August 26, 2017. [1] [2] She will represent the Cherokee Nation as a goodwill ambassador to promote the history, language, and culture of the Cherokee tribe for the next year. [1] [2]
She competed against six other young women for the Miss Cherokee crown [1] in a competition held each year in conjunction with the Cherokee National Holiday. [3] The competition judges contestants on their use of the Cherokee language, their cultural and platform presentations, and their responses to impromptu questions. [1] For her cultural presentation during the competition, Whitekiller focused on empowering Cherokee women through the traditional Cherokee story of why the corn husk doll has no face. [1]
Whitekiller, from Claremore, Oklahoma, [1] [2] [3] is a student at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. [1] She previously served as Junior Miss Cherokee 2015–16. [1] [2] [3]
The Cherokee are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, edges of western South Carolina, northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama.
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on these competition segments with the following scoring percentages: Private Interview (30%) – a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges, On Stage Question (10%) – answering of a judge's question while onstage, Talent or HER Story (20%) – a performance talent or 90 second speech, Health and Fitness (20%) – contestants demonstrate physical fitness onstage while dressed in athletic wear, and Evening Gown (20%) – contestants model evening-wear onstage.
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was a Native American activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, she lived on her family's allotment in Adair County, Oklahoma, until the age of 11, when her family relocated to San Francisco as part of a federal government program to urbanize Indigenous Americans. After high school, she married a well-to-do Ecuadorian and raised two daughters. Inspired by the social and political movements of the 1960s, Mankiller became involved in the Occupation of Alcatraz and later participated in the land and compensation struggles with the Pit River Tribe. For five years in the early 1970s, she was employed as a social worker, focusing mainly on children's issues.
Distinguished Young Women, formerly known as America's Junior Miss, is a national non-profit organization that provides scholarship opportunities to high school senior girls. Depending on the schedule of the various state and local programs, young women are eligible during the summer preceding their senior year in high school. This program is designed to provide young women with the opportunity and support needed to succeed before, during, and after attending college. In addition, through the Distinguished Young Women Life Skills program, which includes workshops and online resources, participants can learn skills like interviewing, public speaking, self-confidence building and much more. Since its creation in 1958, over 700,000 young ladies have participated in competitions spanning the United States. Participants compete in the categories of Interview (25%), Scholastics (25%), Talent (20%), Fitness (15%), and Self-Expression (15%). Each state hosts a state program in which the chosen representative advances to the national program, held in the program's birthplace of Mobile, Alabama. Each year the Distinguished Young Women program gives out over $1 billion in scholarships. The Distinguished Young Women program is free to enter.
The Miss Wisconsin competition is the pageant, held annually in Oshkosh, that selects the representative for the U.S. state of Wisconsin in the annual Miss America pageant.
The Miss Ohio Scholarship Program selects the representative for the U.S. state of Ohio to compete for the title of Miss America. The pageant is held annually, during the "Miss Ohio Festival" week, at the historic 1,600 seat Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield.
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The Cherokee National Holiday is an annual event held each Labor Day weekend in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The event celebrates the September 6, 1839 signing of the Constitution of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma after the Trail of Tears Indian removal ended.
Norma Des Cygne Smallwood was the winner of the Miss America 1926 pageant.
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For the state pageant affiliated with Miss Teen USA, see Miss Oklahoma Teen USA
This is a list of the Philippines' representatives and their placements at the Big Four international beauty pageants. The Philippines, widely considered a beauty pageant powerhouse, has won in all four pageants, with a total of 103 placements and 15 victories:
Nina Davuluri is an American public speaker, advocate, and beauty queen who hosts the reality show Made in America on Zee TV America from Manhattan.
Georgia Lynn Canady is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was crowned Miss Oklahoma's Outstanding Teen 2009 and Miss Oklahoma 2015. She competed for the Miss America 2016 title in September 2015 and placed in the Top 10.
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Miss America 2018, the 91st Miss America pageant, though the Miss America Organization celebrated its 97th anniversary in 2017. This discrepancy is due to no national pageants being held from 1928 to 1932 or in 1934 because of financial problems associated with the Great Depression. The 2018 pageant was held in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Sunday, September 10, 2017. This was the first Miss America pageant to be held in Atlantic City since the Miss America Organization headquarters relocated to Boardwalk Hall.
Marjana Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi-American model, philanthropist, and beauty queen. She was most recently crowned Miss Alaska World 2019 and competed in October 2019 for the title of Miss World America 2019, where she placed in the Top 25. She was Miss Bangladesh 2017 and represented Bangladesh at the Miss Asia Pacific International pageant in the Philippines in November, 2017. She previously won the 2016 Miss Bangladesh USA competition, which was the first pageant she entered. Chowdhury is currently working at an investment management firm in New York City.
For the state pageant affiliated with Miss Teen USA, see Miss Maine Teen USA
Miss USA 2020 was the 69th Miss USA pageant. It was held at the Exhibition Centre and the Soundstage at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, on November 9, 2020. Akbar Gbaja-Biamila and Allie LaForce served as hosts, while Cheslie Kryst and Christian Murphy served as backstage commentators, and Haley Reinhart performed. Cheslie Kryst of North Carolina crowned Asya Branch of Mississippi as her successor at the end of the event. Branch is the second consecutive African American to win the title, and the fourth one in five years. This is Mississippi's first win at the Miss USA pageant. Branch represented the United States at the Miss Universe 2020 pageant and placed in the Top 21.