She Never Saw Herself in Pageants. At 54, Zina Alston Fizer Was Crowned First Lady Juneteenth Minnesota.
Contributing writer Ella Stern reports on the third annual Miss Juneteenth Minnesota State Pageant, where 54-year-old Zina Alston Fizer was crowned First Lady Juneteenth Minnesota, a new category for women 40 and up, and Isaac Abatan became the first-ever Mister Juneteenth Minnesota in a pageant that expanded this year to include men for the first time.
Zina Alston Fizer grew up watching the Miss America beauty pageant. Among the women in their gowns and sashes, Alston Fizer would always look for darker-skinned contestants, hoping to see herself, but was always disappointed. Though she rooted for contestants she described as culturally ambiguous, she never saw contestants or queens of her hue.
On Saturday, June 6, 54-year-old Alston Fizer was crowned First Lady Juneteenth Minnesota in the third annual Miss Juneteenth Minnesota State Pageant. Steeped in the legacy of Juneteenth, the pageant centers freedom and self-confidence and features an all-Black slate of contestants.
“That little girl that I was, that didn’t see [herself in pageants], gets to participate in this space,” Alston Fizer said. “To see all those beautiful little girls twirl around in their dresses, put on their crowns, and know that they are queens. It made my heart whole.”
Miss Juneteenth Minnesota is not a beauty pageant; rather, the event aims to cultivate and reward contestants’ self-worth and poise. In the “evening gown” competition for the queens and the “suit” counterpart for the kings, judges focused on contestants’ confidence and posture. Participants also completed an onstage question-and-answer segment, wrote an essay and showcased their talent. For the talent portion, Alston Fizer memorized and performed Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman,” which rejects societal expectations for women and embraces the speaker’s beauty.
In the lead-up to the pageant, contestants participated in workshops to build skills for the pageant and the wider world. They learned about etiquette, personal hygiene, self-defense, opening checking accounts and building wealth. Whereas pageant preparation traditionally happens in the week before the event, Miss Juneteenth contestants met nearly every Saturday from January to June, according to Alston Fizer.
“Everything’s preparing them, not just for the pageant, but for life: making them more confident, not only [in] who they are, but [in] being able to present themselves in front of other people,” said Rev. William Pierce, the pageant’s adviser and production manager.
This year, the pageant featured three new categories: First Lady Juneteenth Minnesota, for women ages 40 and up; Mister Juneteenth Minnesota, for boys ages 10-17; and Mr. Juneteenth Minnesota, for men ages 18-24. Pageant organizers expanded the women’s age categories and added men for the first time to include more community members and deepen the pageant’s impact.
Although Alston Fizer had previously said “absolutely not” to the idea of competing in a pageant, being a participant “rekindled a fire in me that let me know that age should not limit what you think that you can do,” she said.
“It gives the older ladies the audacity to dream again,” she continued. “Dream that I can still be considered beautiful, I can still be considered desirable, I can still wear an evening gown, I can still challenge myself, even at the 40 plus [age range].”
Alston Fizer and her co-contestant mentored younger participants and hosted a tea party for contestants in divisions four through seven (ages 19 to 40+) to have honest conversations in a way they wouldn’t with men or younger girls around. “I got to see the maturation of womanhood,” Alston Fizer said.
The new First Lady Juneteenth Minnesota also thought it was crucial that organizers added the Mister and Mr. Juneteenth categories. Those contestants were mentored into civically engaged young men whose existence combats stereotypes and misrepresentation, according to Alston Fizer.
“There are so many Black men that are doing the right thing, they’re just not shown,” she said. “The negative, derogatory things that happen in our community are what’s highlighted in the media. I believe that that perpetuates stereotypes; it’s propaganda.”
The calling to provide positive representation brought Isaac Abatan, the first-ever Mister Juneteenth Minnesota, to compete.
“I wanna reshape the image of a Black man,” Abatan said. “On social media and TV shows and movies, normally [Black men are shown to have] overall bad influence… So, I wanted to change that. I wanted to show the world that it’s more than [that negative representation].”
The theme of this year’s pageant was “Rediscovering Our Culture and Redefining Our Freedom.” To Alston Fizer, a new definition of freedom involves freeing one’s thoughts and worldview.
“Redefining freedom: that is looking at, not just the literal chains that were placed on formerly enslaved people, but looking at the chains that were placed on our minds,” she said. “Those borders from during the Jim Crow era… are we still segregated in our minds? Do we still see ourselves as second-class citizens? How do we break out of those chains?”
At a block party Sunday in North Minneapolis, community members excitedly greeted their new Juneteenth royalty, who have been invited to a lineup of community events in the coming weeks and months.
“[The Juneteenth royalty are] really embraced and celebrated to a point that I’ve not seen in a long time,” Pierce said. “They want them to show up, and by doing that, they are inspiring not just young Black girls, but girls in general.”
This year’s pageant took place Saturday, June 6, at North Central University’s Trask Worship Center. Applications for next year open in mid-July at www.missjuneteenthmn.org.
Ella Stern is a contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.