Miss America: Immigrant Beauty Pageants in the United States

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - JANUARY 12, 2017: Miss India Florida 2015, Ritika Singh on Fort Lauderdale beach. In the 1923 case U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind, the decision read that "The word "Caucasian""u2026 includes not only the Hindu but some of the Polynesians, (that is the Maori, Tahitians, Samoans, Hawaiians and others), the Hamites of Africa, upon the ground of the Caucasic cast of their features, though in color they range from brown to black. We venture to think that the average well informed white American would learn with some degree of astonishment that the race to which he belongs is made up of such heterogeneous elements." When citizenship was first defined by Congress in 1790, they restricted naturalization to "white persons". Though specific previsions of the law shifted over time, until the Immigration and Naturalization act of 1952, individuals had to prove their whiteness to be naturalized. During this time, there were 52 court cases in which people from immigrant communities sued the US government to be considered white. These women, the winners of beauty contests that celebrate both their American identity and culture of origin, come from different immigrant communities. Some, like Miss Arab USA, Miss Korea USA and Miss Asia USA, come from communities that were represented in these lawsuits. The women from African communities would not have been citizens until the 14th amendment to the Constitution in adopted in 1868. Others, like Miss Texas Czech Slovak and Miss West Texas, come from communities that faced massive prejudice when they first immigrated. (Photo by Benjamin Rasmussen/Getty Images)