"<a href=""http://topics.cnn.com/topics/vanessa_williams"">Vanessa Williams </a>stepped down in 1984 as the first black Miss America after nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine. She went on to have a successful singing and acting career and has written a <a href=""http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/08/living/vanessa-williams-interview/index.html"">memoir</a>. In September, Sam Haskell, executive chairman and CEO for Miss America, apologized to Williams on behalf of the organization."
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