Our Mission

“To Educate, Elevate, & Empower young African American women on their academic journeys via Cultural Awareness and Historical Education that primarily focuses on Juneteenth origins and Virginia's dynamic past. To foster and promote self-awareness via personal and professional development through the #DefyTheOdds Mentorship program.

Educate | Elevate | Empower

Our Vision

To serve as an advocate of excellence and an educational resource that cultivates a robust platform that is community focused and culturally driven while amplifying Virginia's role in the "Story Of Us" before, during, & after Emancipation.

To commemorate historical events that provide positive, powerful, modern-day lessons of tenacity and resilience to this generation's urban youth.

History has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own."

Michelle Obama, First Black First Lady of the United States of America

FAQ's (Frequent Asked Questions)

Our Mission

• What is the Miss Juneteenth VA Legacy Pageant?

The Miss Juneteenth-VA Legacy Pageant is a mentorship-based program designed to promulgate African American cultural awareness through historical education, the Arts, financial literacy, and personal & professional development. Standing on the shoulders of Virginia's rich history and its effects on what we celebrate today as Juneteenth.

The Miss Juneteenth-VA Legacy Pageant focuses on magnifying the historical events that led to the Emancipation of Slavery in the United States and empowering young women of color to strive for Black Excellence, a birthright of their ancestral bloodlines. These beginnings hold a special place in our shared history because it all happened HERE, at Old Point Comfort - in current-day Hampton, Virginia.

Our cultural footprint chronicles the first documented slave trade in the British colonies, through the civil war and Emancipation, to our modern-day Black Experience. The State pageant is a subsidiary of the Juneteenth 757FreedomFest, a 501(c)(3) community improvement organization in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Moreover, the Miss Juneteenth-VA Legacy Pageant is affiliated with the Miss Juneteenth USA national platform that holds its annual scholarship pageant across the United States.

• Why is this Legacy Pageant important or beneficial?

This platform is vital in developing not only our youth but also promotes, educates, and helps build stronger communities within the Commonwealth. Virginia is the benchmark, the very "heartbeat of American" Black History. Four hundred and sixteen years ago, Africans were traded, sold, and subjected to unspeakable horrors and unequivocal realities. Currently, Virginia has no representation on the National platform. Our goal is to elevate and educate community youth to ensure they gain opportunities not yet offered and expand their understanding of the world that we all live in collectively. We intend to showcase Virginia's youth on a national platform by participating in the 2023 National Miss Juneteenth USA Scholarship Pageant.

Community improvement organizations solidify efforts that directly impact the mindset from the "impossible to possible"; while at the same time elevating our local youth to national status. Our incentives include cultivating mentorships, developing and implementing core workshops, and providing scholarship opportunities at both the State AND National levels.

In the end, we believe that our small role in the "story of us" will inspire growth, strengthen communities, and empower tomorrow's leaders - Today.