Sullivan won the Miss Arkansas title in July 1980 and represented Arkansas in the Miss America 1981 pageant held later that year in Atlantic City , New Jersey . Sullivan and Doris Hayes ( Washington ) became the first African-American women to win preliminary talent awards in the pageant . She was also the first to place among the top five , where she was fourth runner-up
Miss America 1981
Miss America 1981
Lencola Sullivan