Her Story:
Lyda F. Lewis was born in Maysville, Kentucky in 1948, and attended Maysville High School. At the time, Maysville High School was newly integrated school, and where she was one of the first African Americans to be a cheerleader.
Lyda competed in, and won many contests. She was the first African American to be crowned homecoming queen at Morehead State. The road to success however, did not come with out losses. One source says that she lost in a black beauty contest for being "too white". Her biggest accomplishment, of course, would be winning the title of Miss Kentucky in 1973. Thirty-eight years after the pageant's start in 1935, Lewis was the first African American to win it. Afterwards, she went on to be the third African American to compete in the Miss America pageant. |
Titles Won:
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