• Meet Miss Subways

  • May 16 2024
  • Length: 11 mins
  • Podcast
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Meet Miss Subways

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  • Summary

  • Most beauty pageants promote the fantasy of the ideal woman. But for 35 years, one contest in New York City celebrated the everyday working girl: Miss Subways.

    Each month starting in May 1941, a young woman was elected “Miss Subways,” and her face gazed down on transit riders as they rode through the city. Her photo was accompanied by a short bio describing her hopes, dreams and aspirations. The public got to choose the winners – so Miss Subway represented the perfect New York miss.

    Miss Subways was one of the first integrated beauty pageants in America. An African-American Miss Subways was selected in 1948 – more than thirty years before there was a Black Miss America. By the 1950s, there were Miss Subways who were Black, Asian, Jewish, and Hispanic – the faces of New York’s female commuters.

    This episode originally aired on NPR in 2012.

    Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram @radiodiaries. Learn more at our website, radiodiaries.org.
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