JanetThompsonShe's pert, attractive and lively. Her eyes twinkle when she laughs and she has a winsome charm all her own.
She is Janet Thompson, age fourteen, a ninth-grader at Washburn High School. Born in Washburn, Janet has a pleasant singing voice and twirls a baton with grace and precision. She is
an honor student, an active participant in school activities and is popular among students and teachers.
This summer Janet is entering the first State of Maine Miss Black Teenage America Beauty Pageant ever to be held.
The pageant is being sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Maine finals will be held in Portland on Friday, May 28 [1971].
The winner of the state title will represent Maine in the national pageant scheduled July 28 in Atlanta, Ga.
Qualifications for the Miss Black Teenage America Beauty Pageant included good character, an outgoing personality, high intelligence and a performing talent. The contestant must have a wholesome, fresh appearance, a radiant smile, good posture and bearing and be able to project a self-confident, charming and friendly manner. Above all, she must have poise. Janet rates high in all these qualities.
Talent performances for the contest may include singing, dancing, recitations or dramatic readings, acrobatics, magic tricks or instrumental numbers.
When questioned regarding her talent performance for the pageant on Friday, Janet stated that she plans to twirl a fire baton. The baton, she said, will have fire on both ends.
Janet is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Thompson of Story Street, Washburn. She has an older brother, Ernest, and a younger sister, Terri. Her father is retired USAF sergeant and is employed as an air conditioning serviceman at Loring Air Force Base.
Janet attends and sings in the choir of the First Baptist Church in Washburn where her mother is organist.
The pageant is scheduled for May 28 at the Sheraton-Eastland Motor Hotel, Portland. Gov. Kenneth Curtis has signed a proclamation declaring May 28 as Miss Black Teenage Maine Day.
Judging, based on beauty, personality and talent, will be made by five judges. They include Miss Debbie Roddey of the University of Maine, Orono; Maple R. Anderson, wife of Bangor NAACP president, T. J. Anderson; Bessie E. Grason, YMCA worker; Dr. Archie Bufkins, UMO; and Roger E. George, Bangor cosmotologist.