On Sunday night, Viola Davis made history by becoming the first black woman to win an Emmy for best lead actress in a drama series. The character she plays on How To Get Away With Murder is SOMETHING
She opened her speech with a quote from Harriet Tubman. "In my dreams and visions, I seemed to see a line, and on the other side of that line were green fields, and lovely flowers, and beautiful white ladies, who stretched out their arms to me over the line, but I couldn't reach them no-how. I always fell before I got to the line."
She continued, dropping this truth: "The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity." Without writers putting black characters into their scripts, without casting directors and agents scouting black talent (or gay talent, or Asian talent, or wheelchair-bound talent, or trans* talent), our TV shows will never reflect the actual diversity of America.
In recognition of this, and of the women who paved the way, Davis raised her trophy to Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington, Taraji P. Henson, Halle Berry, Gabrielle Union and others stepping "over that line."
