14 DAY TRIAL // Viola Davis wrote history at last night’s prime-time Emmy Awards 2015, becoming the first African-American actress to take home the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series. Her speech was up to par with the occasion.
You can see it in full below.
Davis was nominated for her role on “How to Get Away with Murder” and she used her winning moment to highlight the need for more diversity in television. Black actresses can’t win awards for roles that don’t exist, so the industry must make sure to leave room for these roles to happen, she said.
She started her acceptance speech with a quote from 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.”
Fighting back tears, she thanked all the people who had helped her “get over that line,” from her fellow actresses to the writers, the producers and the series creators.
She also thanked Taraji P. Henson who had been nominated for the same category with “Empire” and who, as you can see in the video, was the first to jump into her arms to congratulate her. While this was happening, Kerry Washington from “Scandal” was crying in her seat, but don’t worry because they were tears of joy.
Since 1981, only 5 black women have been nominated in this major category at the Emmys, including Davis and the aforementioned Washington.
