By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Saturday at Texas City High School young ladies from across the state were on the school’s stage sharing their talents, beautiful evening gowns and their visions for a better future. The girls were competing for the titles of Miss Juneteenth Texas, USA, along with Jr. Miss Juneteenth and Little Miss Juneteenth.
Texas City Mayor Dedrick Johnson served as host for the evening’s pageant with Miss Juneteenth Texas 2024, Kaidlen Key, serving as hostess.
Each young lady came forward to introduce herself with a smile, confidence and poise. One of the contestants quoted Proverbs 3:15 and another recited Psalm 23, and others quoted Michelle Obama.
Mrs. Dorthy Brown, who has been organizing Juneteenth Scholarship Galas in Galveston for the past 33 years, was presented with this year’s Living Legend Award. Madison Swain, who reigned as the inaugural Miss Juneteenth Texas, USA 2023 was crowned as a lifetime queen.
The pageant continued with talent demonstrations that included one young lady performing a monologue from the movie Hidden Statues.
As another young lady, with her soprano voice, sang out the words of “Ride on King Jesus, ” the sound system interfered with her solo. But she sang on. She was given a second opportunity to wow the audience and judges with her beautiful voice. This time, the sound system cooperated, and the performance inspired a second round of even more jubilant applause from the audience.
The evening gown portion of the competition brought out some beautiful gowns from each age category. The girls demonstrated their sophistication in displaying evening gowns while smiling and moving across the stage stopping to poise for the judges.
As is tradition in many beauty pageants, each girl who was vying for Miss Juneteenth Texas was asked a question that required a thoughtful, in-the-moment response from her. One of the questions was, “If you could have lunch today with anyone, who would it be and why?” The young lady said without hesitation that she would choose her grandmother who had passed away.
Each of the young ladies demonstrated their potential to be crowned a winner, but the judges could bestow the title on only one of them. The girls were lined up for each category, and contestants received awards for their congeniality, for their photogenic qualities, their talent and their essays.
Then came the countdown for the final titles. The girls smiled as they waited anxiously in hope of hearing their names called out as the grand winner, but only three girls could win the highest titles.
The young ladies who won the highest titles are as follows:
- Brooklyn Haire of New Boston was crowned Little Miss Juneteenth Texas, USA 2025
- Lauryn Johnson from Webster was crowned Jr. Miss Juneteenth Texas, USA 2025.
- Bailey Howell of the Dallas-Fort Worth area was crowned Miss Juneteenth Texas, USA 2025
Howell is a rising senior at Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts. She wore a powder blue dress that shimmered with sequins.
“It makes me very happy,” she said, smiling, when asked how it felt to win the title.
Howell plans to use her role as Miss Juneteenth Texas, USA to help unite people. She also wants to use her role to promote preserving Black art history for future generations.
She plans to attend college after she graduates from high school and to major in gaming design and a minor in software engineering or computer science.
This was the third annual Miss Juneteenth Texas, USA pageant. The winners of the state pageant qualify to compete in October’s national pageant, which will be held in Galveston. The national pageant was last held in Galveston in 2022.
