The Miss Black USA Scholarship Pageant is a national scholarship competition for young women of African descent that was founded in 1986 by Karen Arrington. [1] [2] While Ms. Arrington has a long-standing history of hosting a national Miss Black USA Scholarship Pageant, her system has not been exclusive in doing so consecutively. As indicated by the chart below, there have been some years where "no pageant was held" by Ms. Arrington's State of Maryland organized non-profit, for example in years such as 1998, 1999 and 2000. However, similar to Miss USA and Miss America both being national systems, there have been other non-profits to host national scholarship pageants to celebrate Black women, with documented queens.
The Miss Black USA Pageant System founded by Ms. Arrington is a non-profit corporation in the state of Maryland, recognized under the 501(c)3 code of the Internal Revenue Service. The current titleholder under her pageant system is Naiylah Archer of New Jersey, who was crowned on August 3, 2025.
The first titleholder was Tamiko Gibson, representing Maryland, who was crowned Miss Black USA 1987 at the JW Marriot in Washington, D.C., on June 6, 1987. [3] Gibson would later complain that she had been improperly dethroned in May 1988 and received none of the promised prizes. [4] [5]
On August 23, 2003, Elizabeth Muto won the pageant, which was held in Miami. [6] Muto returned her crown later that year because she was unhappy with the contract that the pageant asked her to sign, which would have made them her exclusive publicist, agent and manager. [6]
Each year, state competitions are held across the nation including Alabama, Arizona, [7] California, [8] Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, [9] Massachusetts, [10] Mississippi, [11] New York, [12] North Carolina, [13] Ohio, [14] Oregon, [15] Pennsylvania, South Carolina, [16] Tennessee, [17] Virginia [18] and Washington. [19] [20] The Miss Black USA organization licenses the state pageants. Women from areas where a state pageant is not held may apply as a delegate-at-large.
| Year | Name | State | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Tamiko Gibson | Maryland | Crowned June 6, 1987, in Washington, D.C. |
| 1988 | Melanie Elaine Rainey | Illinois | Died in 1995 at age 32. [21] |
| 1989 | Leslie Elizabeth Waddell (later Ezina LeBlanc) | Michigan | Crowned in College Park, Maryland. [22] (*Later dethroned and replaced by first runner-up, Elizabeth Regina Wallace of Florida) [23] |
| 1990 | Clarissa Lester | South Carolina | |
| 1991 | Tarsha Whitaker | Houston | |
| 1992 | |||
| 1993 | Ebony Warren | Florida | |
| 1994 | Deya Smith | Connecticut | |
| 1995 | Sheila Mutumba Rugege | Louisiana | |
| 1996 | Dawn Moss | Maryland | |
| 1997 | Caroline Mack | North Carolina | |
| 1998 | Alicia Hughes | Texas | Crowned in Houston, Texas, on August 22, 1998. [24] (Pageant hosted by USA Metroplex Pageant Systems, Inc.) [23] |
| 1999 | No pageant held | ||
| 2000 | No pageant held | ||
| 2001 | Lisa Marie Miree | Ohio | Crowned March 24, 2011, in Birmingham, Alabama. |
| 2002 | No pageant held [5] | ||
| 2003 | Elizabeth Muto | Nevada | Crowned August 23, 2003, in Miami. Returned crown four months later. [6] |
| 2004 | No pageant held [5] | ||
| 2005 | Celi Marie Dean | Minnesota | Crowned August 7, 2005, in Washington, D.C. |
| 2006 | |||
| 2007 | Kalilah Allen-Harris | Tennessee | Crowned June 1, 2007, in The Gambia. [25] |
| 2008 | Kristen E. White | Georgia | |
| 2009 | Shayna Y. Rudd | Pennsylvania | Crowned August 3, 2009, in Washington, D.C. [26] |
| 2010 | Osas Ighodaro | Connecticut | Crowned August 9, 2010, in Washington, D.C. [27] |
| 2011 | Ocielia Gibson | Texas | Crowned August 8, 2011, in Washington, D.C. [28] [29] |
| 2012 | Salena Watkins | New York | Crowned August 13, 2012, in Washington, D.C. [30] |
| 2013 | Amanda McCoy | North Carolina | Crowned August 12, 2013, in Washington, D.C. [31] |
| 2014 | Jasmin Alexander | Colorado | Crowned August 10, 2014, in Washington, D.C. |
| 2015 | Madison Gibbs | North Carolina | Crowned August 9, 2015, in Washington, D.C. [32] |
| 2016 | Tonille Simone Watkis | Connecticut | Crowned August 7, 2016, in Washington, D.C. [33] |
| 2017 | Daphne Marcelle Lee | New Jersey | Crowned August 20, 2017, in Washington, D.C. |
| 2018 | Kelsi Alexandria Horn* | Michigan | Crowned August 12, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (*Later dethroned and replaced by first runner-up, Kelli Abernathy of Alabama) |
| 2019 | TeKema Balentine | Wisconsin | Crowned August 11, 2019, in Washington, D.C. |
| 2020 | No pageant held | ||
| 2021 | Myja Gary | Virginia | Crowned August 8, 2021, in Washington, D.C. |
| 2022 | Tahira Gilyard | New York | Crowned August 7, 2022, in Washington, D.C. |
| 2023 | Ariel Thompson | Kentucky | Crowned August 6, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Resigned in April 2024. [34] |
| 2024 | Kennedy Lucas | Maryland | Crowned August 4, 2024 in Washington, D.C. |
| 2025 | Naiylah Archer | New Jersey | Crowned August 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C. |
Miss Black USA state and local delegate winners and contestants have gone on to successful careers in entertainment, law, education, medicine and other arenas. Some of the state and local pageant's winners include: