On September 17, 1983, Vanessa Williams was crowned as Miss America ‘84, making her the first ever African-American Woman to be Miss America. But only 10 months later on July 23, 1984, Williams stepped down from the position, making her the first woman ever in the pageant's 63-year history to resign (Fein). Vanessa Williams can be compared to Hester Prynne from the Scarlet Letter in multiple ways. While Williams and Hester both faced public humiliation for their actions, Williams was not punished as harshly as Hester Prynne
In the summer of 1982, Vanessa Williams began working as a receptionist for photographer Tom Chiapel. Over the course of about a month and a half, Chiapel repeatedly mentioned to Williams that he would like to shoot her…show more content… I did the best that I could in my reign as Miss America in 1983-84. On behalf of my family, my mother in particular, Brian Edwards who orchestrated this entire thing to bring me back and your leadership, your integrity, and you bring this pageant back to what it ought to be. I love you, I love the girls, and I am so honored to be back” (Variety). Williams later met with reporters and briefly reflected on her reign as Miss America. "I want to thank everyone who has come up to me over the past 32 years and said, 'You'll always be MY Miss America.’ I got a chance to be on the stage and represent what I represented back in 1984. Thank you so much for being so welcoming to me" Williams stated to the reporters (Parry).
Vanessa Williams can be compared to Hester Prynne from the Scarlet Letter, in both similarities and differences. One thing they both have in common is their mistakes put a negative outlook on both of them, Hester wore the scarlet letter, Williams gave up her crown and lost all of her credibility. Hester was forced to wear a scarlet letter upon her chest for committing adultery and bearing the child of a man that was not her husband. Williams was asked to give up her crown and lost respect from other and credibility due to the nude photos of her that were