A sash and a coronation photograph make HBCU royalty look like decoration. The four women elected Miss at Paine College, Lincoln University of Missouri, Morris Brown College and Coppin State University this year talk about it as work with a constituency attached.
Rickhia Tarver, the 99th Miss Paine College and a member of the class of 2028, puts her own history in front of the title. “I want people to see me and know that your beginning does not determine your ending,” she said.
Madison Hampton, the 102nd Miss Lincoln University of Missouri-Elect, measures the job by what it leaves behind rather than by how long she holds it. A true legacy, she said, “is not measured by how long you wear a crown, but by how many lives you touch while wearing it.” Hampton describes herself as a Black woman attending an HBCU.
India Williams, the 92nd Miss Morris Brown College, was crowned on October 1, 2026. A crown, she said, is “not just something you wear but something you earn through hard work, dedication, and service.”
Danielle Stafford, the 95th Miss Coppin State-Elect, keeps her hometown inside the title. She said that “where I come from is a part of my strength.”
Four campuses, four ordinal numbers, and not one of them describes a prize.
