During the early years of the pageant , under the directorship of Lenora Slaughter , it became segregated via rule number seven that stated : " contestants must be of good health and of the white race . " Rule number seven was abolished in 1950 . Miss New York 1945 , Bess Myerson , the only Jewish American winner to date , became Miss America 1945 and faced antisemitism during her time as Miss America , leading to a cutback in her official duties . Although there were Native American , Latina , and Asian-American contestants , there were no African-American contestants for fifty years ( African-Americans appeared in musical numbers as far back as 1923 , however , when they were cast as slaves )
Miss America 1945
Miss America 1945
Miss America