Zaila Avant-garde, 14, this week became the first Black American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in a century of events. The winning word: "murraya", a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family.
Avant-garde, from New Orleans, is the first Black contestant to win since Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica in 1998. The winner is also an accomplished basketball player, with several Guinness World Records to her name for dribbling multiple basketballs at a time. Avant-garde claimed the $50,000 top prize after appearing relaxed and bantering with the judges and moderators, despite her struggle with 'Nepeta,' a word for another plant genus.
Here's the moment of truth:
