Singer, actress, and fashion designer Vanessa Williams
turned 59 in March.

On July 23, 1984, 21-year-old Vanessa Williams gave up her
Miss America title, the first resignation in the pageant’s history,
after Penthouse magazine announces plans to publish nude
photos of the beauty queen in its September issue. Williams
originally made history on September 17, 1983, when she
became the first Black woman to win the Miss America crown.

Miss New Jersey, Suzette Charles (below), the first runner-up
and also African American, assumed Williams’ tiara for the two
months that remained of her reign. 

   

Suzette Charles