Her Skin Colour couldn’t stop her!

posted by Success Kingsley on the 22nd day of February, 2019.

“If there’s something that you are truly passionate about, i don’t care what it is. if its being an Astronaut, a teacher or a composer, go for it and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it”.- Nia Franklin

Today on she can be more,my muse is American composer and beauty pageant tittle holder NIA FRANKLIN.

During the 1930s – The early years of the “MISS AMERICA” pageant, regulations plainly demanded that contestants must be of WHITE RACE. This led to the introduction of the MISS BLACK AMERICA pageant which aimed at celebrating black women as beautiful.

CAN A BLACK WOMAN BECOME MISS AMERICA? One may ask.

“There were a lot of people that did not want me to be representative of the UNITED STATES and MISS AMERICA. And not just white people alone. There were a lot of people who had issues……..”- Vanessa Williams.

Contrary to this extensively held bias, Vanessa Williams became the first black woman to win MISS AMERICA . I’m quite sure if she had being here today she would explain better how challenging it was.

Vanessa interviewed by the  NEW YORK TIMES said ;

“MISS AMERICA doesn’t represent us because there has never been a black girl in the Pageant.”

She also talked about being the target of persistent HATE MAIL and Death threats.

Funny enough, Becoming Great is not that easy after all.

Nia Franklin confirmed this challenge when she took to her Instagram handle to pay homage to Cheryl Browne, the first black MISS AMERICA contestant to ever grace the MISS AMERICA stage thus breaking down racial barriers as the first African American to compete for this tittle. She wrote:

“Thank you,Cheryl Brown for paving the way for all the black women who came after you. Without you I may not be MISS AMERICA.”

And now:

NIA FRANKLIN

• Graduate of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina with a degree in Music Composition.
• Graduate of North Carolina School of Arts(UNSCA) where she earned her Masters of Music.

• An America composer

• A beauty pageant tittle holder, crowned MISS New York in June 2018 and MISS AMERICA on September, 2018.

NIA SHARED” WITH NOW THIS” NEWS

“I have personally faced not only challenges of discrimination against my skin colour but also as a Woman. I’ll never forget when I was auditioning for schools before I was in high school, and I was auditioning with my compositions and I had one Professor at a school tell me that I had the same chance of being a music composer as I did being a NFL football player and in that moment, it was hurtful but I kind of laughed it off and went on to the next audition. But I will say that’s something that will always stick with me because he didn’t believe I could be a composer but here I am a composer with two degrees in music composition and I’m only 25. And I plan to continue writing because that’s my passion”

That’s a very bold step to take. Isn’t it?

She didn’t let her skin colour get in the way neither did she let the harsh words from the Professor.

And as Donovan Bailey said “follow your passion, be prepared to work hard and sacrifice, and, above all, don’t let anyone limit your dreams.”

If she can be it.

You can be it and even MORE!