Photos show the emotional moment Miss Mississippi Asya Branch was crowned the winner of Miss USA 2020

• Miss Mississippi Asya Branch, 22, was crowned Miss USA 2020 at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday night. 
• Branch was crowned by Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst, who had the longest reign in history after the pandemic forced organizers to reschedule the spring pageant. 
• During the competition’s two final rounds — the final word and the final question — Branch was asked to speak on gun laws and the political polarization of the US. 
• Branch’s platform is helping children with incarcerated parents. She has spoken often about her own father, who has been in prison for half her life. 
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A new Miss USA has been crowned, and this time it was Miss Mississippi who took the title. 

Asya Branch, 22, became the 68th woman to win the pageant, which was held at Graceland — the former estate of Elvis Presley — in Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday night. 

Branch was crowned by Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst, who had the longest reign in history after the pandemic forced organizers to reschedule the spring pageant. 

During the competition’s two final rounds — the final word and the final question — Branch was asked to speak on gun laws and the political polarization of the US. 

“As someone who grew up in a home with guns, I learned from an early age how to load, how to fire, and gun safety,” she said. “And I think that education should be available to everyone. I believe that we should require people to pass training and safety courses before they’re allowed to purchase a gun and before receiving a permit.” 

"I think it's important that we not ban guns, because obviously, people will find a way to get what they want anyway, but I think it's our Second Amendment right, and I think we just need more safety surrounding that," she added. 

When Branch was asked what must be done to bring America "back together," the pageant queen said the US would need to "set a better example" if it wanted to "continue to be the greatest nation." 

"I think this is an issue of trust," she said. "We've lost trust in the systems that seem to keep our country running — from the media to business to our government. It's all about restoring that trust and coming together and working together to heal and trust in the systems." 

Branch attended the University of Mississippi, where she once watched a football game with Morgan Freeman. She is currently working as a model and has her own cosmetic line, Branch Beauty. 

"What started as a makeup obsession has turned into a lucrative business that I am very proud of," she wrote on her Miss USA bio. 

Branch is a veteran of the pageant circuit and competed for the title of Miss America 2019

Last year, she became the first African-American woman to win the title of Miss Mississippi USA, which made her eligible to compete in the Miss USA 2020 pageant. 

"It's just so amazing to me that it's 2019 and we're still having firsts in the African-American community," she told WREG in October 2019, after she was crowned. "It just blows my mind that I was able to be a first within my life." 

Branch credits her pageant career with giving her the confidence to talk about her experience growing up with an incarcerated parent

Her father has been behind bars for half of her life. 

The pageant queen revealed that she decided to share her story after a Miss Mississippi judge encouraged her to be open about her past history. 

"I flashed back to the day I came home from school and daddy wasn't waiting on the porch," she wrote in Guideposts. "Instead, our house was surrounded by strange cars — government vehicles. I was not quite 11 years old, and I was so scared. Where was daddy?" 

Branch said her family lost their farmhouse after her father — who will be released in 2022 — was sent to prison. The parents of her friends stopped letting them go to her house for slumber parties. When she got older, Branch worked multiple jobs so she could afford to buy marked-down pageant gowns. 

"Maybe if I spoke about my experience openly, it would help other children of incarcerated parents feel less alone," Branch wrote. 

As Miss Mississippi, Branch has worked to fund more than 300 letters between incarcerated mothers and their children. She said she has also written to each inmate's child to offer her support. 

"I tell them that I personally know how hard their circumstances are," she added. "But that they can do anything they put their minds to."

• Read more:
• Meet the 51 women competing to be Miss USA 2020
• Photos show how the winning gowns from the Miss USA pageant have changed through the years
• Miss USA Cheslie Kryst said she never thought she'd be able to discuss her support for Black Lives Matter onstage in her early pageant days
• 37 showstopping looks from Miss USA over the years
• Miss USA Cheslie Kryst says the swimsuit competition has always been her favorite part of pageants

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