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The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

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Margaret Gorman, a white woman with her arms outstretched, holds a flag behind her and wears a dress and a very large crown.
Margaret Gorman, the first Miss America winner (1921).

First Miss America pageant takes place in Atlantic City.

1921

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Margaret Gorman, the first Miss America winner (1921).

Contestants are in their late teens and are judged based on a "scientific" criteria assessing ratio of features, etc. The pageant is part of a cultural shift in the U.S., as women's bodies, which were previously hidden, begin to be displayed more openly in the new styles of the time.