Pageant News Bureau - Tennessee Teen USA

What's not in the book

Tennessee is a stunningly diverse place. It has nine distinct geographic regions. It borders no fewer than seven other states. It was an early stronghold of the Democratic Party, but it was the first Southern state where Republicans made major inroads. It was a pillar of the Confederacy, but it had more men in the Union Army than some Northern states did. It contains not only the country music capital, but also the home of the blues and the birthplace of rock 'n' roll.

Photos by Benjamin Gibbs / PNB

When we heard there was a newly published history of this fascinating state, we rushed out to get a copy. But frankly, we were a bit disappointed. We can't deny that "Tennesseans and Their History," by Paul H. Bergeron, Stephen V. Ash and Jeanette Keith, is an informative and readable book. But it contains nothing about pageants.

That's right. There's nothing about the beauty queens who made history in the Volunteer State. Nothing about Kellye Cash, nothing about the "teen sweep" of the late 1990s, nothing about the Alden sisters or the Alderson sisters.

Please don't be upset about this, pageant fans. Any book can contain only so much information, and something must be left out. Certainly, the authors couldn't leave out the Cherokees, or the American Revolution, or Reconstruction. They didn't want to omit mention of Meriwether Lewis' mysterious death, or Sam Houston's mysterious marriage. Pageants simply didn't make the editorial cut.

It's too late to change things now. But just to provide a bit of balance, we are bringing you this brief moment in Tennessee pageant history, the night in late 1999 when Rachel Boston passed the crown of Miss Tennessee Teen USA to Casey Porter, and when Morgan Tandy High put the Miss Tennessee USA on her successor, Lynnette Cole. It may not wind up in most history books, but it was worth remembering.

And if you don't mind reading a book that contains nothing about pageants, you could do worse than "Tennesseans and Their History." It's published by the University of Tennessee Press.

Photos by Benjamin Gibbs / PNB