Campus queens at historically Black colleges and universities do a lot more than attend football games or ride on homecoming parade floats wearing tiaras and sashes.
The young women, typically graduating seniors who excel academically, are often elected to their positions in their junior year. They are involved in a number of extracurricular activities, host community service projects and act as ambassadors for their respective universities both on-and off-campus.
They also pride themselves on exhibiting school spirit and amplifying student voices, encouraging them to become productive citizens — working hard while looking flawless.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke with two current campus queens from the Atlanta University Center Consortium: Mallory Butts, Miss Spelman College, and Miss Clark Atlanta University Jayla Smalls. Representing alumni are Roz White, Miss Howard University 1993; Samira Turner, Miss Tuskegee University 1999; Sabrina Burrell, Miss Southern University and A&M College 2010; and Jasmine Gurley, Miss North Carolina A&T State University 2012.
The women shared a range of details, from the experience of campaigning and competing for the crown to the sacrifices they made for the title, and why HBCU queens matter.
Credit: Photos courtesy Mississippi Valley State University Office of Communications and Marketing
Credit: Photos courtesy Mississippi Valley State University Office of Communications and Marketing
What inspired you to attend your alma mater?
Turner: “My grandmother, mother and two older sisters went to Tuskegee. I have an aunt who’s a former Miss Tuskegee, so it’s always been part of my heritage.”
Gurley: “My best friend’s father went to A&T, and she knew that’s where she was going her entire life. It wasn’t on my radar until I saw her wearing a hoodie in high school. She begged me to apply. I stepped on campus, it felt like I belonged there and a place where I could be successful.”
Butts: “My mother attended Spelman in the ‘90s. I grew up in Atlanta, so we came to campus regularly. My mom would walk past current students and they would acknowledge her as their Spelman sister. Witnessing that sisterhood was the biggest decision makers for me.”
Burrell: “My family encouraged me, and I did a college tour. My tour guide felt more like my big cousin. I walked on campus nervous but left stress-free.”
Smalls: “Clark Atlanta was my first choice, but I ended up going to Southern. After COVID-19, I got my credits to transfer. I had family here in Atlanta and cousins who went to Morris Brown College who kept talking about how good Clark’s journalism program was.”
What motivated you to compete for campus queen?
White: “The late Reggie Ray taught costume design and makeup at Howard for 25 years. He came to me and said that I should run for Miss Howard and become the queen of the yard. It came with scholarships, opportunities to speak, and he made sure that I stuck to it.”
“It was exciting because Debbie Allen hosted the pageant and crowned me. I went on to win Miss Collegiate African American and show kids what someone from Southeast Washington, D.C. could do and how they could be successful with the right guidance.”
Turner: “I’m from Southwest Atlanta and was Miss. Mays High. My mom was an attendant for Miss Tuskegee, so there was a part of me that felt she had unfinished business. I wanted to carry that torch for her. One of my high school classmates told me one day that I would become Miss Tuskegee, and it planted a seed of confidence in me.”
Gurley: “I saw Tanisha Fordham, Miss A&T at the time, at freshman orientation. I sat next to my best friend and told her I wanted to do that. For the next three years, I kept that vision in the back of my mind, did everything so that by my junior year, it was a no-brainer for me to be in that role.”
Burrell: “I was queen of my middle and high schools, so I wanted to make it happen.”
Smalls: “One of my first friends when I came to Clark Atlanta was Jeydah Jenkins, a former Miss CAU. We had a conversation in the cafeteria after I started direct messaging her on InTurneragram, and she introduced me to pageantry life. We didn’t have anything like that in my hometown, Detroit.”
Credit: Photos courtesy West Virginia State University
Credit: Photos courtesy West Virginia State University
How did you campaign?
Turner: “I was pledging and a triple major, so I didn’t have a lot of flyers, banners and campus covered in things. I placed posters where the most eyeballs could see because there was no social media then. Another classmate put up flyers in the boys’ dorms and places I couldn’t gain access to.”
Gurley: “We were the first allowed to use social media, mainly hashtags on Twitter. I didn’t like going places and not being heard. I always made it a point to speak anytime I showed up because I never wanted to be a queen that was just for show.”
Butts: “It was very heavy on social media, because I could reach so many people much faster. I made a website and produced a docuseries. It became an archive for everything throughout that season.”
Burrell: “I’d walk up, talk to people and get feedback on what they wanted to see in a queen. We couldn’t use social media, so we had yard signs, billboards, T-shirts, fans and stuff that people could have. I surrounded myself with different people from different organizations to help get the word out.”
How did it feel hearing your name called at the pageant?
Turner: “I nearly lost my balance. I was pledging Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the probate show was the day after the pageant. I had nothing left in me. I didn’t know the last time I had a good meal or slept well. I pushed through the pageant, so I cherish the moment more now.”
Gurley: “I got emotional because my grandmother, a pageant girl who went to Norfolk State University, was there. My peers and elders who poured into me were there, too. I was living my dream.”
Burrell: “I was about to fall out because I’d won by a landslide. It was a rush of five different emotions into one.”
What were your responsibilities?
White: “I mentored other young ladies interested in becoming Miss Howard and getting involved in student activities. I spoke to kids about supporting the arts and taught at a summer youth employment program called Hands on the Future, which showed them songwriting and producing.”
Turner: “It was like a work-study job and very time-consuming position. I was an official ambassador for the school, so I attended convocations, recruiting events, every football game, planned homecoming events, competed in other pageants and lots of public speaking. I couldn’t cheer that year.”
Gurley: “We had to create opportunities for students on-campus to serve. I created monthly programming around women’s empowerment, healthy relationships and a talent workshop with India. Arie’s manager for my final event.”
Butts: “We have office hours for students to stop by every week.”
Burrell: “I would go to local schools, read to students and take my court with me. My initiative, SU Feed the Children, we collected and donated canned goods to food banks.”
How was homecoming under your reign?
White: “Campus was on fire because there was so much energy. There was a lot of house music flowing. We had gospel and R&B concerts, fashion and step shows. The yard was incredible. We had three stages with local and national acts. It was pretty overwhelming but popping.”
Turner: “It was fantastic. My father had nine siblings, and all of them showed up with my grandmother to watch me walk on the football field. My aunt, Miss Tuskegee, showed up to the parade and let me wear her authentic mink coat. Another former Miss Tuskegee gave me a pair of shades. People were walking up to me and telling me they went to school with my mom.”
Burrell: “It felt like royalty. The parade was surreal because I was on a float in my regalia.”
Butts: “This is actually my first homecoming as Miss Spelman coming this weekend, and I’m really excited to wear the crown, white dress and sash.”
Smalls: “It felt different because Detroit doesn’t have HBCUs. Everybody was looking for me and trying to talk. I enjoyed learning about all of the queens that came before me who came back to pour into me.”
Did you feel any type of pressure?
White: “I was aware of everything that I had to do, especially speaking on different panels, showing up to represent the school at different games and events. I was a musical theater major, so I performed a lot. Sometimes, I would have to run from my performance to an event as Miss Howard. I was pretty busy.”
Gurley: “Nothing caught me off-guard. Everything that came at me, I was ready for it. I stopped swimming my senior year so that I could do my job.”
Butts: “I do. So many students have asked me to be a big sister to them. The weight and responsibility gave me a little anxiety during the summer while I was interning at Estee Lauder in New York and not on-campus. I try to prioritize multiple responsibilities. I schedule things out, sometimes turn things off to get sleep and take care of myself. This role is for a purpose that’s bigger than me.”
Burrell: “I’ve always been a planner. If I couldn’t do something, I sent one of my queens. I had an internship off-campus, too. It was nonstop, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
What are some misconceptions about HBCU campus queens?
White: “We’re superficial, don’t have brains, not able to hold a conversation and just there to collect prize money for being pretty faces. The two queens before me were my mentors who stuck by my side and helped me understand that every campus queen has her own unique image and identity.”
Turner: “We’re given things. All of my wardrobe was self-financed. I wasn’t really there to enjoy the friendships and on-campus experience. The university told me what things I can and shouldn’t be seen in. Everything comes with a label, so you have to think about how you represent the school.”
Smalls: “I’m not a typical queen. I have a lot of tattoos on my body that everybody can see, piercings, was 21 years old when I became Miss Freshman, and cut all of my hair off when I became Miss CAU. It’s OK to be your true self on campus no matter what you look like.”
How did the crown set you up for success in your profession?
White: “In 2019, I got a chance to direct Howard’s fall production of Ntozake Shange’s “Spell No. 7.” I used to sing background for Yolanda Adams for years, and her daughter, Taylor, was in that production. I got to direct my former boss’ daughter.”
“When I did the national tour of “Tina,” Debbie Allen came to our opening night in Los Angeles, and I got to hug her. It’s a beautiful, full circle thing. I was an older college student. I got my degree at 24 when everyone else was turning 21. After high school, I went on the road with “Dreamgirls.” I don’t regret it because that’s how I met the person that encouraged me to attend Howard. Working and going to school at the same time kept me grounded.”
Turner: “It taught me how to move in and out of different circles.”
Gurley: “Becoming Miss A&T was my first successful public relations campaign. I was the spokesperson on behalf of an institution and being of service to the customer, which I do to this day.”
Why are HBCU queens important?
White: “It’s an opportunity for us to give a young Black woman the power to be a positive influence on her community and to do it with the best possible visibility. If young girls can see this young woman achieving her goals, representing with dignity, class and integrity, then they will model that behavior. If we don’t have these examples, then they won’t know what they can aspire to be.”
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