Her name was Yolande Betbeze. She was known by her friends and family as funny, smart, and beautiful. Most of all, she was a young woman who remained true to her own convictions. After she won the title of Miss America 1951, she refused to make public appearances wearing only a swimsuit. Her defiance and determination to be valued for more than just her physical beauty carved out a unique place in history for the Alabama native and changed the pageant world forever.
Yolande Betbeze, swimsuit competition photo, Miss America 1951Photo byAP Photo (archived by the Library of Congress)
Yolande Betbeze was from a middle-class family in Mobile Bay. Her mother was a homemaker, and her father was a well-known butcher who owned a local barbeque stand. Yolande was raised with a strict Catholic background and attended a local Catholic convent school. It was her conservative religious upbringing that instilled a set of values in Yolande—values that she never abandoned.…