#Janelle Commissiong

[joyxande]

✨🎀

[rosesgrownbytheseaside]

Janelle Commissiong

[hiltonabee343]

Miss Nicaragua Sheynnis Palacios wins Miss Universe 2023

Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua was crowned the 2023 Miss Universe at the culmination of the annual beauty pageant, which took place on Saturday night in El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador. Anntonia Porsild of Thailand placed as first runner-up.

The winners of 84 countries’ national pageants had competed at this year’s Miss Universe, judged by a panel including model Halima Aden, “Queer Eye” star Carson Kressley, TikTok influencer Avani Gregg and two former Miss Universe winners, Janelle Commissiong of Trinidad & Tobago (Miss Universe 1977) and Iris Mittenaere of France (Miss Universe 2016).

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[sbrown82]

Nah, y’all gotta see it in motion because it was too damn funny. Becky really thought she had that. Miss Trinidad & Tobago ATE and became the first Black Miss Universe to take the crown! 👸🏾🇹🇹

Second of confusion as the name of Miss Austria is called as the first runner-up and she thought she had won,. But, Miss Universe 1977 is Miss Trinidad & Tobago, Janelle Commissiong.

[kimta22]

1977 #MissUniverse Janelle "Penny" Commissiong & #MichaelJackson..."frie...

[furiouscrusadeavenue]

Janelle Penny Commissiong. Crowned Miss Universe 1977. She was the first Black winner in the history of the pageant, Janelle represented Trinidad and Tobago.

[weirdtvland]

Betty Davis, Freda Payne, Pat Cleveland, Radiah Frye, Charlene Dash, Grace Jones, Eve Arnold, Janelle Commissiong, Bernadette Stanis, Joyce Walker, Leona Mitchell, Joan Pringle, Pat Evans, Iman. There’s more to come.

Who are some of your favorite faces of the 70s?

Brenda Sykes, Judy Pace, Teresa Graves, Naomi Sims, Beverly Johnson, Donyale Luna, Pam Grier, Marsha Hunt, Rosanne Katon, Arlene Hawkins, Tina Turner, Jeanne Bell, etc. I’ll keep going when I can think of more.

[protectblackchildren]

For the first time, top beauty pageants — Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Miss America and now, Miss Universe — have crowned black women as their winners at the same time. And that's a big deal if you know pageant history.

Powerful worthy women, too.

[crownsandqueens]

Janelle Penny Commissiong - Trinidad & Tobago - Miss Universe 1977

[twixnmix]

JET magazine covers from 1977

[lubajackson]

I really love this picture of Michael Jackson in 1978 with Miss Universe 1977 Janelle Penny Commissiong. 

[galleryyuhself]

~Galleryyuhself~ The first Miss Universe of Colour and Trinidad and Tobago’s first Miss Universe. Janelle “Penny” Commissiong.

[the-evil-twin]

Janelle Commissiong is a Trinidadian politician and beauty queen. After winning the Miss Trinidad & Tobago title, she went on to be crowned Miss Universe 1977 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, attracting international attention as the first black winner of Miss Universe. She is an advocate for black rights and world peace, and has been awarded the Trinity Cross, the country's highest award, in 1977. Three postage stamps were also issued in her honour. [x] 

The bottom picture is Micheal Jackson with Janelle in 1977 after she became the first black woman to win the title of Miss Universe.

[furiouscrusadeavenue]

Miss Universe 1977. Janelle Penny Commissiong from Trinidad and Tobago.

[garyjordan1]

Forever Queen of our hearts 👑 ❤️ Janelle Penny Commissiong @missuniverse1977 #pennycommissiong #janellepenny #janellepennycommissiong #missuniverse1977 #queen #queenofourhearts #portrait #missuniverse #jordanangels #garyjordan #jordanstudios #professionalphotographer #garyjordanphotography #entrepreneur #bossbabe #instadaily #instabeauty #local #love #smile #powerfulwomen #headshot (at Miami, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqQb9l4rWfj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[historicalbeauties]

^ Beauty queen. London, 1970s.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP

...It might be easy to dismiss Mr. Albert’s photographs as relics from a sexist past. Except for one significant detail: his subjects were black. For these women, members of West London’s Afro-Caribbean communities, pageants nurtured racial pride and self-expression.

These exuberant photographs are the subject of “Raphael Albert: Miss Black and Beautiful,” an exhibition organized by Autograph ABP in London and, now, at Mac Birmingham. Curated by Renée Mussai, the exhibition offers insights into a consequential, but largely overlooked, aspect of black culture and political expression in Britain.

^ Holly modeling jewelry at Blythe Road, London, circa 1974.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP

^ Beauty Salon, London, circa 1960s.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP

^ A woman waiting in a dance hall. London, 1970s.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP

... While much of what Mr. Albert photographed might also be found at conventional beauty pageants, his subjects faced cultural and social obstacles unknown to their white counterparts. Their performances in events, and before the camera, were inevitably in relationship to a mainstream culture that routinely ignored or disparaged them as it focused almost exclusively on the beauty and concerns of white women.

^ A beauty queen posing against an alpine backdrop. London, 1970s.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP

^ Crowned beauty queen with fellow contestants. London, 1970s.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP

^ A model posing in a studio. London, 1960s.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP

...Feminists typically have criticized beauty contests for objectifying their subjects and perpetuating a submissive view of women. ... Nevertheless, even mainstream pageants have sometimes been heralded by racial and religious minorities as markers of social progress.

As black women began participating in these competitions — in certain cases only after prohibitions against their inclusion were lifted, like with the Miss America pageant — they tested the presumption that beauty was synonymous with whiteness. With victories in the Miss World, Miss Universe and Miss America contests, Jennifer Hosten, Janelle Commissiong and Vanessa Williams, respectively, did more than shatter glass ceilings in the 1970s and 1980s. In the eyes of some, they served as icons of racial progress and role models for young women of color.

Nevertheless, these pageants featured token black contestants while largely continuing to perpetuate an idealized image of white beauty. “This fair image weighs most heavily on the brown shoulders of minority women who bear a special beauty burden,” wrote the psychologist Rita Freedman. “They too set out in search of it, only to discover that failure is built in for those whose lips smile too thickly, whose eyelids fold improperly, whose hair will not relax enough to toss in the wind, whose skin never glows in rosy shades.”

^ A model with a head wrap. Blythe Road, London, 1970s.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP

^ A model in a suit, Blythe Road, London, 1970s.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP

Thus, the dedicated black pageantry promoted and documented by Mr. Albert was fundamentally more empowering. If these contests focused on the women’s physical attributes — participants had to wear swimsuits and high heels — they nevertheless allowed contestants to define themselves outside of conventional notions of attractiveness and self-presentation. Commensurate with the international “Black is Beautiful” movement, which began in the United States in the 1960s, these pageants created “a distinct space where black women were able to both occupy and own the idea of ‘beauty’ for themselves, and without the need of conforming to Eurocentric ideals,” as Ms. Mussai noted in an interview with OkayAfrica in 2016.

^ Miss Black and Beautiful Sybil McLean in Hammersmith Palais, London, 1972.Credit...Raphael Albert, Courtesy of Autograph ABP