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VIOLA DAVIS FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN TO WIN EMMY FOR BEST ACTRESS IN DRAMA

PROGRESS FOR BLACK WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD


(Source: ABC)
(Source: ABC)
USPA NEWS - Viola Davis, after becoming the first African-American to win an Emmy for best actress in a drama, gave an acceptance speech that placed her award within the larger context of diversity in Hollywood...
Viola Davis, after becoming the first African-American to win an Emmy for best actress in a drama, gave an acceptance speech that placed her award within the larger context of diversity in Hollywood.

Viola Davis of "How to Get Away With Murder" won the Emmy for best actress in a drama, and began her acceptance speech paraphrasing the words of Harriet Tubman: "In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me, over that line, but I can't seem to get there no how. I can't seem to get over that line."
"You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there. So here´s to all the writers, the awesome people that are Ben Sherwood, Paul Lee, Peter Nowalk, Shonda Rhimes, people who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black."

In 2012, she was listed by Time as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2014, she began starring as Annalise Keating, in the television series How to Get Away with Murder, for which she has received universal critical acclaim. For her work, she won a SAG Award, received a Golden Globe nomination and in 2015, became the first African-American woman to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

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