At the 2015 Emmy Awards history was made, and I am not talking about the fact that Game of Thrones won almost everything. No I am speaking of the triumphant victory of How to Get Away with Murder 's leading lady Viola Davis in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Davis's victory marks the her as the first woman of color to take the trophy in that category in the show's 67 year run.
What an amazing breakthrough for actresses of color everywhere, and for those of us who want a more culturally representative presentation of our society in the media.
Davis graciously accepted this honor by quoting Harriet Tubman with the following, “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.”
Well Harriet, the line is being broken down. We are starting to reach for each other harder from both sides, and are finally able to clasp hands as equals.
The recent outpouring of leading roles for minority women was something I hadn't even registered until recently. Not in the sense that I didn't care or anything like that, but more like I hadn't realized it was an issue and that I saw nothing unusual with minority women taking on leading roles because that happens out in the real world everyday. When I thought about it though, I realized how absolutely essential that these roles are and what they mean for our world and society.
Up until the last decade most leading lady roles were played by white women, unless the production was geared towards a particular minority. "Regular" tv shows would have white leads and a racial array of supporting cast members. That doesn't sound very representative of the real world, if you ask me.
Roles like those portrayed by Viola Davis and Kerry Washington are absolutely what young women in this country, especially young minority women, need to see. Strong, intelligent, driven women that make you strive to embrace their best qualities and leave behind the stigma of dumbing yourself down for a man, and instead promote the of just outsmarting him at every move and driving him crazy with the fact that you are smarter than he is.Those are the role models we need. The ones that tell us that any woman can achieve her dreams and meet her goals without the color of her skin mattering.
The sooner we, as women, embrace each other for the fact that we are all women, the better.
Congratulations Viola Davis on your groundbreaking win and I hope it is the first of many, because you are far too much of a boss on How to Get Away with Murder to not be recognized for it ever again.
