Vanessa Williams became the first Black Miss America on this day 40 years ago

Vanessa Lynn Williams became the first Black woman to win the Miss America title in 1983 .

She was embroiled in a scandal when nude photos of her surfaced.

Williams was forced to resign her title 10 months after her crowning moment in 1984 .

She has since returned to the pageant stage in 2015 to offer a mea culpa.

"I had the responsibility of something that I never thought would ever happen in my lifetime," Williams told Yahoo looking back at journey from scandal to redemption. "I didn't think it would happen, and the fact that it did happen, made my path mean something and that's tremendously heartfelt to me because I made a change in my own little way.".