By Patricia Williams
For the first time in the history of the top beauty pageants in the country, three Black women are simultaneously wearing crowns as 2019 Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, and Miss America.
When Cheslie Kryst was announced as Miss USA on Thursday she completed the historic trio with pageant winners 2019 Miss America Nia Franklin and recently crowned 2019 Miss Teen USA Kaliegh Garris.
Cheslie “Ceci” Kryst, a 27-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, was crowned Miss USA 2019, at the pageant on Thursday night in Reno, Nevada. She is also the reigning Miss North Carolina USA 2019 and is the third woman from North Carolina to win Miss USA. Kryst will represent the United States at the Miss Universe 2019 competition in South Korea later this year.
Kryst is a full-time civil litigation attorney who works on behalf of prison inmates for free. She earned her law degree and MBA at Wake Forest University after graduating from the University of South Carolina with a degree in Marketing and Human Resources. At USC she was also a ranking SEC track and field athlete, according to her profile on the team’s website.
Kaliegh Garris has been crowned Miss Teen USA 2019. Garris also holds the title of Miss Connecticut Teen USA 2019; she is the second entrant from Connecticut to have been crowned Miss Teen USA. The Connecticut native is still in high school where she studies theatre but plans to attend Southern Connecticut State University’s nursing program to become a trauma nurse.
Garris has participated in competitive dance and is trained in contemporary, pointe, hip hop, and tap. She also founded the organization We Are People 1st that assists people with disabilities. Garris was inspired by her older sister’s struggles with multiple disabilities. Garris has been recognized by the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services for her work. She also volunteers at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Garris received national attention for wearing her naturally curly hair for the competition. She told Refinery21 that some people tried to convince her to straighten her hair for the Miss Teen USA competition but she opted for her natural curls because when she’s wearing them, she feels confident.
People across social media marveled at Kryst’s natural hair and noticed that both she and Garris bypassed any form of hair straightening. Both Garris and Kryst follow Nia Franklin who in September 2018, sprinkled Black Girl Magic onto the 2019 pageant season when she was crowned Miss America.
The 2019 crowning of Kaliegh Garris, Cheslie Kryst, and Nia Franklin, is the first year in American history that Miss Teen USA, Miss USA, and Miss America are all African-American women.
Nia Imani Franklin was crowned Miss New York USA 2018 in June and crowned Miss America 2019 at the pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey in September. Franklin is an opera singer, a composer, and an arts advocate. She earned her Masters of Music and music composition degrees from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts after graduating from East Carolina University in Greeneville with a degree in music composition.
In her freshman year at East Carolina University, Franklin’s father was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Years later he relapsed twice and needed a stem cell transplant to live. Franklin was found to be a match and donated stem cells to her father, which put cancer in remission.
Franklin composed “King Solomon,” a chamber opera that premiered in 2015. She was granted a 2017 William R. Kenan Jr. Fellowship with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ education division and moved to New York City.
Congratulations to these 2019 accomplished bronze queens who exude brains, beauty, and Black Girl Magic.