Deneen Graham

Deneen Zezell Graham Kerns is a dance teacher and pageant contestant from North Carolina. In 1983, she became the first African-American to win the Miss North Carolina beauty pageant; she remained the only African-American to have won the Miss North Carolina pageant until Alexandra Badgett was crowned in 2019.

Personal life Graham was born in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Her parents, Jean and Bobby Graham, were both educators in Wilkes County public schools. She entered the 1983 Miss North Carolina pageant at 19, as Miss Elkin Valley. North Wilkesboro held a Deneen Graham Day two weeks after she received the Miss North Carolina title.

In 1986, she graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance.

Pageants Miss Georgia pageant performer Miss North Carolina 1983 Participant in Miss America 1984 pageant