It wasn’t that long ago that America’s beauty pageants crowned their first black winners. The first black Miss America was Vanessa Williams, in 1983. In 1990, Carole Gist was named Miss USA and the following year Janel Bishop was crowned Miss Teen USA.

This month, for the first time in pageantry history, all three winners of America’s major pageants are women of colour. Cheslie Kryst, a 28-year-old lawyer, has been named Miss USA, while Kaliegh Garris, 18, is Miss Teen USA. Nia Franklin was crowned Miss America in September last year.

“One thing that shook me as profound was that when I was competing, I didn’t think about the fact that a black woman is Miss America, or a woman of colour is Miss Teen USA, or that if I won I’d be the third,” Kryst told Sunday Times. “I just thought each of us had earned our titles.

Why it matters that all three of these US beauty queens are black women