Beauty pageants promote the fantasy of the ideal woman. But for 35 years, one contest in New York City celebrated the everyday working girl.
Each month starting in 1941, a young woman was elected “Miss Subways,” and her face gazed down on transit riders as they rode through the city. Her photo was accompanied by a short bio describing her hopes, dreams and aspirations. The public got to choose the winners – so Miss Subway represented the perfect New York miss. She was also a barometer of changing times.
Miss Subways was one of the first integrated beauty pageants in America. An African-American Miss Subways was selected in 1948 – more than thirty years before there was a black Miss America. By the 1950s, there were Miss Subways who were black, Asian, Jewish, and Hispanic – the faces of New York’s female commuters.
In this episode of the Radio Diaries Podcast, meet the Miss Subways. This episode originally aired on NPR in 2012.
Guest Spotlight: Ear Hustle
Working, Then And Now
The Longest Game
Rumble Strip: Finn and the Bell
The Almost Astronaut
The General Slocum
The End of Smallpox
The Story of Jane
The Greatest Songwriter You've Never Heard Of
Identical Strangers
Sofia's Choice: A Ukrainian Diary
The Forgotten Story of Clinton Melton
Claudette Colvin: Making Trouble Then and Now
A Voicemail Valentine
Diary of a Saudi Girl: Then & Now
A Museum of Sound
A Real Life West Side Story
A Guitar, A Cello, and the Day that Changed Music
A Wrench in the Works
My Iron Lung
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Criminal
Ear Hustle
Song Exploder
The Truth
the memory palace