Thursday, 3/9 Vanessa Williams @ Motor City Soundboard Vanessa Williams: She was the first African-American Miss America in 1984, and then she found herself at the center of controversy when photos were published without her permission in Penthouse, forcing her to relinquish her title. That didn’t hold her back from success though, and she quickly found a home on Broadway and in the R&B scene during the late 1980s.