[CrimsonTide4]

Miss Black OSU an ambassador in her community

Kyonna Blades
Features Writer


This past February, Leslie Warrior was crowned Miss Black OSU 2005.

Since then, she has been promoting her platform of the importance of self-esteem in today’s black women. She has gone around the state, speaking to groups of girls about self-esteem and self-image.

According to reports in Warrior’s research, black women are leading in new cases of eating disorders, starting with middle school-aged girls.

As Miss Black OSU, Warrior served as an ambassador for OSU and the black community.

After winning the title, Warrior was invited to compete in Miss Black Oklahoma.

Miss Black Oklahoma was a weeklong event in which contestants toured the State Capitol and the Freedom Center in Oklahoma City. They were given the opportunity to meet senators and learned about city government and knowing their rights as citizens.

The event was hosted by Clara Luper, which started the Miss Black Oklahoma pageant as an outlet for black women to participate in educational and social history, as well as black history. Luper was a pioneer in starting the sit-in movement during the 1950s in Oklahoma.

Warrior was named second runner up in the competition. Because of this, she was invited to the NAACP Convention—Youth and College Division in Milwaukee, Wis. At the convention, she met senators and celebrities, including singer John Legend, rapper Ludacris and civil rights champion, the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

During her time at the convention, she attended legislative sessions and toured America’s Black Holocaust Museum. Founded by the only known lynching survivor, James Cameron, the museum was opened to promote consciousness of the impact of racism on African Americans and America as a whole.

The museum also features a quilt with all fifty states and the names of people who were lynched in each state.

Warrior has been helping Tiffany Nixon, Multicultural Student Center coordinator, prepare for next year’s Miss Black OSU pageant. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

As far as her reign as Miss Black OSU, she says, “It’s been a great experience and I hope to help young women in any way that I can.”

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