Pageant organizers have drawn up contracts over the years for sponsors of local contests. This one, from 1948, includes the notorious rule number 7 barring non-white women from competing.

10, but before then, here's a look at the pageant's history — going all the way back to 1921. FILE--Contestants in the first Miss America pageant in 1921 line up for the judges in Atlantic City ...

The Miss America pageant has never been a progressive event, but in 1968, it sparked a feminist revolution. As women organized the first protest against Miss America, they were responding not only ...

That disease actually contributed to the pageant queen's taking a break from competing in the Miss America ... her first year ...