Miss America protest facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Two women toss items into the Freedom Trash Can while a female reporter looks on.
Date	September 7, 1968 (1968-09-07)
Duration	1 pm to 12 midnight
Venue	Miss America 1969
Location	Atlantic City, New Jersey Boardwalk
Also known as	No More Miss America
Cause	Women's liberation
Target	Miss America 1969
Organised by	New York Radical Women
Participants	New York Radical Women, Jeannette Rankin Brigade, National Organization for Women, American Civil Liberties Union

The Miss America protest was a big demonstration that happened on September 7, 1968. About 200 people, mostly women who believed in women's liberation, gathered at the Miss America 1969 contest. This protest was organized by a group called New York Radical Women.

During the protest, people put many everyday items into a "Freedom Trash Can" on the Atlantic City boardwalk. These items included hairspray, makeup, and girdles. The protesters also held up a large banner inside the contest hall that said "Women's Liberation." This protest got a lot of attention from news outlets around the world. It helped make the Women's Liberation Movement famous.

Why Did the Protest Happen?

The New York Radical Women Group

The New York Radical Women was a group of women who had been active in other important movements. These included the civil rights movement and groups against war. This group started in the fall of 1967. Some of its founders were Robin Morgan, Carol Hanisch, and Shulamith Firestone. They were looking for a good way to bring attention to their ideas about women's rights.

Carol Hanisch said she got the idea to protest the Miss America contest after watching a movie. The movie showed how beauty standards could make women feel bad. It even showed clips of a Miss America contestant in a swimsuit. Hanisch thought protesting the pageant would be a great way to make their movement known. She said, "Miss America was this 'American pie' icon. Who would dare criticize this?" The group decided to use methods that the civil rights movement had used successfully. They changed them to fit their new ideas about women's liberation.

What Was the Protest's Goal?

On August 29, 1968, Robin Morgan sent a letter to the mayor of Atlantic City. She asked for permission to hold the protest. In her letter, Morgan explained why they were protesting. She said they objected to how the pageant focused on women's bodies instead of their minds. They also disliked its focus on youth over maturity, and on selling products instead of valuing people.

Who Organized and Joined the Protest?

Robin Morgan was the main organizer of the protest. She said the protest was sponsored by "Women's Liberation." This was a group of smaller groups and individuals. Florynce Kennedy's Media Workshop also helped. This group protested how the media showed African Americans.

Other members of New York Radical Women helped with the protest. Bev Grant, a musician and photographer, filmed and took pictures of the protest. Peggy Dobbins, a performer, made a life-sized Miss America puppet. She showed it on the boardwalk, pretending to auction it off. Other groups also joined, like the National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union. Men were not allowed to take part in this protest.

The press release for the event had strong messages. It said things like, "Miss America is a walking commercial for the pageant’s sponsors." It also mentioned that she went to Vietnam to encourage soldiers.

The Protest Event

On the Atlantic City Boardwalk

About 200 members of New York Radical Women traveled to Atlantic City. On September 7, 1968, around 400 women gathered on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. They came from cities like New York City, Boston, and Detroit. They protested what they called "The Degrading Mindless-Girlie Symbol." They also protested American society's ideas about beauty.

The protesters marched with signs and handed out flyers. One flyer was titled No More Miss America. They even crowned a live sheep. They did this to compare the beauty pageant to livestock shows at county fairs. They showed a drawing of a woman's body marked like a piece of meat.

The Freedom Trash Can

The protesters threw many everyday items into a "Freedom Trash Can." These items included mops, cooking pots, Cosmopolitan magazines, false eyelashes, and high-heeled shoes. They also threw in hair curlers, hairspray, makeup, girdles, and corsets. The protesters called these items "instruments of female torture." They saw them as things that forced women to look a certain way.

Protesters believed the pageant and its symbols made women feel bad. They spoke out against its focus on a made-up standard of beauty. They were against judging and celebrating the "most beautiful girl in America." Kathie Sarachild, one of the organizers, said that "huge crowds gathered for the picketing." People were eager to get their flyers.

Protest Inside the Pageant Hall

While people protested outside, four women, including Kathie Sarachild and Carol Hanisch, bought tickets. They went inside the hall. As the 1968 Miss America, Debra Barnes Snodgrass, was giving her farewell speech, the women acted. They unfurled a bedsheet from the balcony that said "Women's Liberation." They started shouting "women's liberation!" and "No more Miss America!" They shouted about six times before police quickly removed them. TV cameras at the event did not show them. However, newspapers across the country covered the protest. Sarachild said, "I think it kind of made the phrase 'women's liberation' a household term."

Outgoing Miss America Snodgrass said the protesters were disrespecting the hard work of thousands of competitors. She said these competitors were going to school and had worked hard on their talents.

No More Miss America! Pamphlet

The protest organizers wrote a press release before the event. It was later turned into a pamphlet called No More Miss America!. This pamphlet asked women to "reclaim ourselves for ourselves." Robin Morgan wrote it. It listed ten ways the Miss America pageant made women feel bad.

Morgan wrote that the contestants were like a "Degrading Mindless-Girlie Symbol." She said the runway parade was like a county fair. Animals are judged for their teeth and hair, and the best one gets a prize. Since 1921, only white contestants had been finalists. So, the authors called the contest "Racism with Roses." They also criticized the winner's tour to visit troops in other countries. They called it "Miss America as Military Death Mascot."

Morgan wrote that Miss America was a walking advertisement for the pageant's sponsors. This made her part of "The Consumer Con-Game." The pamphlet also criticized the idea that you are worthless if you don't win. They called this "Competition Rigged and Unrigged." The authors also criticized "The Woman as Pop Culture Obsolescent Theme." This meant promoting young women who are then thrown away when a new winner is chosen.

The writers said the competition encouraged women to be quiet and not have strong opinions. It ignored things like personality, intelligence, and commitment. They called this "The Irrelevant Crown on the Throne of Mediocrity." The pamphlet said the pageant was "Miss America as Dream Equivalent To." It made being Miss America seem like the biggest goal for every little girl. But boys were supposed to grow up and become President of the United States. Men were judged by what they did, women by how they looked.

Morgan wrote that the pageant tried to control thoughts. It created the idea of "Miss America as Big Sister Watching You." It tried to keep women in low-status roles. It taught young girls that women were only for shopping. No More Miss America! was the first public pamphlet to share the movement's ideas. It listed many problems these women would need to fix to gain equality. This pamphlet became an important source for people studying feminism.

What Happened After the Protest?

A short six-minute documentary, Up Against the Wall Miss America (1968), was made about the protest.

This demonstration was very important. It helped bring the women's liberation movement to the attention of people across America. The event "marked the end of the movement's obscurity." It made "women's liberation" and beauty standards topics that everyone talked about.

The pamphlet "No more Miss America! Ten points of protest" was included in a 1970 book. The book was called Sisterhood is Powerful and was edited by Robin Morgan.

A Separate Civil Rights Protest

On the same day, September 7, 1968, another protest happened in Atlantic City. This was a civil rights demonstration in the form of a beauty pageant. African Americans and civil rights activists gathered to crown the first Miss Black America. The winner was nineteen-year-old Saundra Williams from Philadelphia. She had been active in civil rights before the competition.

Saundra Williams explained why she joined the pageant: "Miss America does not represent us because there has never been a black girl in the pageant. With my title, I can show black women that they too are beautiful."

This competition was organized by civil rights activist J. Morris Anderson. It was held at the Ritz Carlton, a few blocks from where the Miss America pageant was happening. Before the competition, the Miss Black America contestants rode in cars through the streets of Atlantic City. People cheered and clapped, especially members of the black community.

The Miss Black America protest and the New York Radical Women protest had different reasons. The New York Radical Women protested the whole idea of beauty standards. The Miss Black America protesters did not have a problem with beauty standards themselves. Instead, they were upset that these standards mostly favored white women. While the women's liberation group wanted to get rid of the idea of beauty contests, the Miss Black America protesters wanted beauty to include all races.

Robin Morgan, the feminist protester, said, "We deplore Miss Black America as much as Miss White America but we understand the black issue involved."

See also

In Spanish: Protesta contra Miss America para niños