Okay, It’s almost been a week. I have to talk about something that has been weighing on my heart. That something being the 95th Academy Awards – aka, the Oscars.
Now if you don’t know, the Oscars is a Hollywood ceremonial award show, that celebrates the people that help make a great film, an excellent one, (in a nutshell).
Although the Oscars have a long history of awarding the people who worked hard to make notable films from the year prior; it also has a history of overlooking many talented people as well. And to be clear, many of those overlooked women are black.
Since it is Woman’s History Month and the Oscars aired earlier this week, I want to bring some black women who are more than deserving of these accolades, to the forefront.
These are 5 Black Women That Deserve Oscars:
Angela Bassett
Angela Bassett is a 64-year-old black actress, director, and producer, who has been showing up on the big screen since the 1980s. She most recently starred in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as Ramonda, the Queen Mother of Wakanda. Because of her amazing performance as Ramonda, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2023 Oscars Awards. Still, she did not win.
Other Notable Films: Black Panther (both marvel movies), Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Jacksons, & What’s Love Got To Do With It.
Loretta Devine
Loretta Devine is a 73-year-old black actress and producer, who has been starring in films since the 1980s. One of the most recent movies she starred in was Mack & Rita, where she played Sharon. Although she has won multiple awards such as Emmy Awards, she has yet to even be nominated for an Oscar.
Other Notable Films: Waiting to Exhale, This Christmas, For Colored Girls, Jumping The Broom, & Death at A Funeral
Ava Duvernay
Ava Duvernay is a 50-year-old black writer, director, and producer, who has been in the film industry since the early 2000s. Although she seems to prefer curating TV series, for the sake of this post, we will hone in on the films she has taken part in. One of the most recent movies she directed was A Wrinkle in Time. In 2017 she was nominated by the Academy for Best Documentary Feature, but unfortunately, did not win.
Other Notable Films: This Is The Life, My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women and Hip-Hop, I Will Follow, Middle Of Nowhere, Selma
Gina Prince-Bythewood
Gina Prince-Bythewood is a 53-year-old black writer, producer, and director, who made her Hollywood debut in the year 2000. One of the most recent movies she directed was, The Woman King. (See my review of the film here.) Although she won an NAACP Image Award for The Woman King, it wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar award. Leaving Gina Prince-Bythewood, still, without an Oscar.
Other Notable Films: Love & Basketball, The Old Guard (both 1 & 2), Beyond The Lights, The Secret Life of Bees, & Disappearing Acts
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Sheryl Lee Ralph is a 66-year-old black actress, director, and producer, who made her feature film acting debut in the late 1970s. She is currently on the hit show Abbott Elementry, where she plays Barbara. (Doing a phenomenal job, might I add). But again for the sake of this post, I will highlight some of the films she has been a part of. One of her most recent films was Christmas In My Heart, where she played Ruthie Sampson. Sheryl still has not received an Oscar award.
Notable Films: Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, The Flintstones, Unconditional Love, Just Getting Started, & Christmas Comes Twice
Final Thoughts
I can actually go on and on, about the black women who have gone overlooked in Hollywood. But I don’t have the time to do so, and neither do I have the desire to make myself angry. Because that’s what happens when you see the disproportionate number of black women artists who have not been given their flowers.
But what I do know is, an award does not speak to the greatness that a person embodies. All of these women listed have been working hard at their artistry for decades now and the work speaks for itself.
I hope one day that I can be at least half of the artist that these women are. And even still, they deserve their flowers while they are still here to smell them. Black women deserve Oscars too.
