Dahleen Glanton: There she is, and she's black: Why crowning African-American pageant winners still matters

As a child, I loved watching the Miss America pageant on television. In that regard, I was no different than many other young girls growing up in the 1960s.

But few probably took this fascination as far as I did. On that once-a-year Saturday evening, I'd grab a chair from the kitchen table, drag it through the house and set it directly in front of the television set.

I'd drape my shoulders in a white sheet, and across my neatly plaited hair, I'd place the rhinestone tiara I had once worn