Newly crowned Miss Tennessee Brianna Mason talks about what it means to become the first African American Miss Tennessee. Brianna Paciorka, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
Brianna Mason, 23, graduate of Ravenwood High School, became the first African American woman to be named Miss Tennessee at Saturday night’s Miss Tennessee Scholarship Competition in Knoxville.
“I can’t believe I am standing here right now with this sash and this crown and that means I am going to Miss America,” Mason said minutes after becoming Miss Tennessee 2019.
Ravenwood High School Principal Pam Vaden of Williamson County Schools said she is proud of Mason.
“I know I speak on behalf of all of my colleagues and the Ravenwood community in congratulating Brianna for hitting the ground running after graduation,” Vaden said.
Miss Greene County Brianna Mason is crowned Miss Tennessee in the final round of the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Competition at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday, June 29, 2019.
Miss Greene County Brianna Mason is crowned Miss Tennessee in the final round of the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Competition at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday, June 29, 2019. (Photo: Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel, Knoxville News Sentinel)
“Her courage and tenacity is an inspiring story as she has proven that anything can be accomplished with confidence and belief in oneself. She is a dynamic role model and a legacy for others to follow.”
Via Twitter, Vaden also congratulated her colleague, Reggie Mason, Brianna Mason’s father, who currently serves an assistant principal at RHS.
Mason won the pageant in her fourth attempt and was last year’s second runner-up, competing as Miss Knoxville.
At a press conference following the pageant, Mason said she set out to break the barriers of skin color and sent a message of inspiration to other young girls who dream of doing the same.
“I can’t even put into words how special this is,” Mason said. “I have been competing for so long, and there’s a Miss Tennessee room with portraits of all past Miss Tennessees, and none of them looked liked me.
“And so, I’ve made it my goal for the last couple of years to make sure my face gets up there not just for me, but for all of the young ladies who look like me and don’t think they can do it just because of their skin color.
“I’m here to tell you that it does not matter what your skin color is. It does not matter what your religion is. You can do anything that you want.”
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Mason, a first grade teacher in Murfreesboro with a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in elementary education, both from the University of Tennessee, said she would take a year’s leave from her teaching job.
Wearing a periwinkle blue Grecian gown with a hot pink underskirt, Mason fell to her knees in tears when she realized she had won.
Mason, who was said to be a crowd favorite early in the competition, also won both her talent and her on-stage question preliminaries.
Mason also tackled one of the night’s most controversial questions, selecting it from a sealed envelope, asking if she believed Confederate monuments should be removed from public places in Tennessee.
Mason answered that, “as an African American woman” the Confederate symbols did not make her “feel positive.”
“I do feel like it is part of our history, and if it is part of our history, it belongs in a museum but not in a public place,” she said.
The Miss Tennessee competition lasted for four nights at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena. Twenty-seven young women competed for the title.
Mason will receive a $15,000 scholarship and will compete in the Miss America pageant on Sept. 8.
