1984 vanessa williams the first african american miss america w 07 23
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1984 42 years ago Selected Events July 23 4 sources

Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America, was forced to resign after the magazine Penthouse published nude photos of her without consent.

On July 23, in the year 1984, Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America, was forced to resign after the magazine Penthouse published nude photos of her without consent. This event is recorded as a Selected Events event in the history of July 23, one of 434 recorded events on this date across all of history.

Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later resign her title amid a media controversy surrounding nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine. 32 years later, Williams was offered a public apology during the Miss America 2016 pageant for the events.

Key Facts

  • This event took place on July 23, 1984 (AD era).
  • It is categorised as a Selected Events event in recorded history.
  • Referenced in 4 Wikipedia articles.
  • Wikipedia source last updated on 16 July 2026.

On This Date in History 434

Type Year Date Event
Notable Deaths 2024 Jul 23 Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1937)
Notable Deaths 2022 Jul 23 Zayar Thaw, Burmese politician and rapper (born 1981)
Notable Deaths 2022 Jul 23 Kyaw Min Yu, Burmese political activist (born 1969)
Historical Events 2018 Jul 23 A wildfire in East Attica kills at least 102 people. It is the deadliest wildfire in the history of Greece.
Notable Deaths 2017 Jul 23 John Kundla, American basketball coach (born 1916)
Historical Events 2015 Jul 23 NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by the Kepler space telescope.
Notable Deaths 2015 Jul 23 Shigeko Kubota, Japanese-American sculptor and director (born 1937)
Notable Deaths 2015 Jul 23 Don Oberdorfer, American journalist, author, and academic (born 1931)
Notable Deaths 2015 Jul 23 William Wakefield Baum, American cardinal (born 1926)
Historical Events 2014 Jul 23 TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Penghu Airport. Forty-eight…
Notable Deaths 2014 Jul 23 Dora Bryan, English actress and restaurateur (born 1923)
Notable Deaths 2014 Jul 23 Norman Leyden, American composer and conductor (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2014 Jul 23 Ariano Suassuna, Brazilian author and playwright (born 1927)
Notable Deaths 2014 Jul 23 Jordan Tabor, English footballer (born 1990)
Notable Deaths 2013 Jul 23 Rona Anderson, Scottish actress (born 1926)
Notable Deaths 2013 Jul 23 Pauline Clarke, English author (born 1921)
Notable Deaths 2013 Jul 23 Arthur J. Collingsworth, American diplomat (born 1944)
Notable Deaths 2013 Jul 23 Dominguinhos, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (born 1941)
Notable Deaths 2013 Jul 23 Emile Griffith, American boxer and trainer (born 1938)
Notable Deaths 2013 Jul 23 Kim Jong-hak, South Korean director and producer (born 1951)
Notable Deaths 2013 Jul 23 Djalma Santos, Brazilian footballer (born 1929)
Historical Events 2012 Jul 23 The Solar storm of 2012 was an unusually large coronal mass ejection that was emitted by the Sun which barely missed…
Notable Deaths 2012 Jul 23 Margaret Mahy, New Zealand author (born 1936)
Notable Deaths 2012 Jul 23 Sally Ride, American physicist and astronaut (born 1951)
Notable Deaths 2012 Jul 23 Lakshmi Sahgal, Indian soldier and politician (born 1914)
Notable Deaths 2012 Jul 23 Esther Tusquets, Spanish publisher and author (born 1936)
Notable Deaths 2012 Jul 23 José Luis Uribarri, Spanish television host and director (born 1936)
Historical Events 2011 Jul 23 A high-speed train rear-ends another on a viaduct on the Yongtaiwen railway line in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China,…
Notable Deaths 2011 Jul 23 Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter (born 1983)
Historical Events 2010 Jul 23 The English-Irish boy band One Direction were formed while auditioning for the 2010 series of the British singing…
Notable Deaths 2010 Jul 23 Daniel Schorr, American journalist and author (born 1916)
Notable Deaths 2009 Jul 23 E. Lynn Harris, American author and screenwriter (born 1955)
Notable Deaths 2008 Jul 23 Kurt Furgler, Swiss lawyer and politician, 70th President of the Swiss Confederation (born 1924)
Notable Deaths 2007 Jul 23 Ron Miller, American songwriter and producer (born 1933)
Notable Deaths 2007 Jul 23 Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (born 1914)
Notable Deaths 2006 Jul 23 Jean-Paul Desbiens, Canadian journalist and academic (born 1927)
Historical Events 2005 Jul 23 Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people.
Notable Deaths 2005 Jul 23 Ted Greene, American guitarist and journalist (born 1946)
Notable Deaths 2004 Jul 23 Mehmood Ali, Indian actor, director, and producer (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 2004 Jul 23 Carlos Paredes, Portuguese guitarist and composer (born 1925)
Notable Deaths 2004 Jul 23 Piero Piccioni, Italian pianist, conductor, and composer (born 1921)
Notable Births 2003 Jul 23 Alex Consani, Model and Influencer
Notable Deaths 2003 Jul 23 James E. Davis, American police officer and politician (born 1962)
Notable Births 2002 Jul 23 Séléna Janicijevic, French tennis player
Notable Deaths 2002 Jul 23 Leo McKern, Australian-English actor (born 1920)
Notable Deaths 2002 Jul 23 William Luther Pierce, American activist and author (born 1933)
Notable Deaths 2002 Jul 23 Chaim Potok, American novelist and rabbi (born 1929)
Notable Deaths 2002 Jul 23 Clark Gesner, American author and composer (born 1938)
Historical Events 2001 Jul 23 Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment.
Notable Births 2001 Jul 23 Lily Phillips, British pornographic actress

This article draws on content from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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