Miss Panama: How a Black woman made history in Panama
Gloria Karamanites didn’t just win a pageant when she was crowned Miss Panama. She made history.
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Gloria Karamanites became the first Black woman to be crowned Miss Panama in 1980.
On the verge of winning the crown, pageant officials orchestrated a last-minute manoeuvre to obstruct her path to victory, by demanding that she answer an obscure legal question.
Gloria was forced to confront systemic racism but her Afro-Panamanian community rallied around their “Queen” to defend her efforts to represent their country.
A film by Lamar Bailey Karamanites, David Felix Sutcliffe and Pascale Boucicaut
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Published On 23 Aug 2022