As you all know, Martin Luther King Jr. Day just passed recently. Following that is always the month of February which is nationally acknowledged as Black History Month. The older I get, combined with all of the racial inequality we’re still facing in 2017, these specific national holidays mean that much more to me.
I thought to take this time to acknowledge, said holidays, by highlighting a few members of Black Hollywood. It seems like black actors, actresses, writers, producers, singers, etc., have been taking the world by storm lately. Y’all, I’m here for it!
Sterling K. Brown
Sterling K. Brown became the first African-American actor to win the award for Outstanding Actor in a drama series and just a few weeks ago, he also became the first black man to win a Golden Globe for a TV Drama. This is just to name a few accomplishments because I’m sure the list goes on.
View Brown’s SAG acceptance speech below.
Lena Waithe
Creator of the Showtime series, The Chi (which is really good, btw), became the first black woman to win an Emmy for Comedy Writing.
Mary J. Blige
As we all know, Mary J. Blige has had a tough year. A tough year due to divorcing her husband and manager, Kendu Isaacs, and apparently being homeless too. BUT God….
Mary J. Blige received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the nine-time Grammy winner found out she has also been nominated for an Oscar. Talk about a turn-around of a year for Auntie Mary J.!
Ava Duvernay
The power house film director, producer, screenwriter, and film marketer was most recently nominated for first black female director at the Golden Globes. She was voted the first black woman to win Best Director Prize in 2012 at Sundance Film Festival, and credited for her work in the movie Selma (2014). Here recently, Duvernay was confirmed to direct the film soon to come to theaters, A Wrinkle In Time (which I’m extremely excited to support). Also known for creating and executive producing one of my favorite OWN series, Queen Sugar. We celebrate Ava for being a black woman, doing the dang thang!
There are so many more people putting on for the culture in 2017-2018, and it makes me prouder to be BLACK! I’m so grateful for the few mentioned, because if they can, I know I can as well. We salute Black Excellence and Black Hollywood here at Kill Joy!
