Winners of the Miss USA, Miss America and Miss Teen USA pageants are all black women for the first time in history

Cheslie Kryst won the Miss USA crown Thursday, meaning that for the first time three black women are the reigning Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss America.

The North Carolina lawyer completed the historic triple Thursday with pageant winners 2019 Miss America Nia Franklin and recently crowned 2019 Miss Teen USA Kaliegh Garris.

'The three young women who have focused their energy on demonstrating how standards of black beauty speak for American standards of beauty are to be commended,' said Thomas DeFrantz, a professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke University.

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Three black women are the reigning Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss America. Chelsie Kryst (pictured left) completed the historic triple on Thursday

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Miss New York Nia Franklin reacts after being named Miss America 2019 in Atlantic City, New Jersey in September 2018

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Kaliegh Garris, Miss Connecticut TEEN USA 2019, is crowned the new Miss Teen USA at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino's (GSR) Grand Theatre on Sunday, April 28

'These three standard-bearers prove that black beauty is at the heart of a 21st century American ideal,' he added.

Franklin, from New York, won her title in September in Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the first woman also to win the Miss America crown without having to don a swimsuit. Garris, from New Haven, Connecticut, won her crown in April, and hopes to become a trauma nurse.

Kryst, a former Division I athlete and attorney at Poyner Spruill LLP in Charlotte, North Carolina, won her crown in Reno, Nevada. She holds an MBA from Wake Forest University.

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Miss North Carolina Cheslie Kryst wins the 2019 Miss USA final competition in the Grand Theatre in the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada Thursday

'Mine is the first generation to have that forward-looking mindset that has inclusivity, diversity, strength and empowered women. I'm looking forward to continued progress in my generation,' said Kryst, after accepting her crown. She now advances to the Miss Universe competition.

The oldest of the three is the Miss America pageant, which began in 1921 but women of color were barred from participating until the 1940s by a rule that said contestants must be of 'the white race.' 

Frustration led to the creation of Miss Black America contest.

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'Mine is the first generation to have that forward-looking mindset that has inclusivity,' Kryst said Thursday after her win

In 1970, Cheryl Browne became the first black woman to participate in the Miss America pageant. 

Since then, more than a dozen black women have been named either Miss America or Miss USA, including actress Vanessa Williams, the first-ever black Miss America in 1983.

The Miss USA contest was created in 1952 and crowned the first African American contestant - Carole Anne-Marie Gist - in 1990. 

A year later, Janel Bishop won the Miss Teen USA title, becoming the first African American winner.