Former Miss America to speak at PBSC as part of Black History Month events
Ericka Dunlap, who became the first African American woman to be crowned Miss Florida in 2003 and who went on to win the Miss America title the following year, will speak at Palm Beach State College Feb. 19 as part of a series of Black History Month events that begin Tuesday.
A Black History Month kickoff celebration featuring music, food and other activities will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday at the pavilion on the Palm Beach Gardens campus. Similar kickoff celebrations will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Martin Luther King Plaza on the Lake Worth campus and from noon to 2 p.m. in room TEC at the Belle Glade campus. A series of movie screenings, musical events and Black History Month displays are planned throughout the month on all campuses.
Dunlap, a graduate of University of Central Florida, will speak at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 19 on the Lake Worth campus in room SCC 154. During her reign as Miss America, Dunlap promoted cultural diversity and inclusion under the title “United We Stand, Divided We Fall Behind.” She encouraged diversity best practices to corporations, universities and in communities.
She has been a featured guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “The O’Reilly Factor.” She has been a finalist for the CBS reality series “The Amazing Race 15.”
Currently, she wears many hats as an entrepreneur, mentor, public relations consultant, entertainer and speaker. She balances her time between clients while performing as The One Who Kissed the Frog in the musical, “Disenchanted,” now in its run at the Straz Performing Arts Center in Tampa.
For more details about Black History Month events, visit the events calendar.
