On Sunday evening, the 86th Annual Academy Awards aired. “12 Years A Slave,” was a major winner, collecting three awards including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress. Lupita Nyong’o, a Mexican-born actress of Kenyan descent, won the latter award for her portrayal of Patsey in what was her debut major film role.
Nyong’o’s win was historic and groundbreaking, as she is only the sixth actress of African descent to win the award. The accomplishment also comes during a historic time, exactly 75 years after Hattie McDaniel became the first black woman to win an Academy Award in 1939 for her role in the film, “Gone with the Wind.”
However, a sour spot can be found in the sweetest of moments in history. In the 87 years since the Academy Awards first started taking place, only seven black actresses have won the Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress categories at the Academy Awards.
As you take a look at the Academy Awards as a whole, you will find that there is a very huge diversity gap, according to statistics from publishing company Lee & Low Books.
Since the awards’ inception in 1927, only one woman of color has won the Best Actress category, meaning more than 98 percent of the category’s winners have been white. Only 9 percent of the Best Actor category winners have been people of color. Even more startling is the fact that in the past 10 years, no acting Academy Award in any category has been awarded to a performer of Latino, Asian or Native American descent.
What is the root of the problem? Is it that 94 percent of academy voters are white and only 6 percent are minorities? Some people do not think there is any problem at all, applying an affirmative action-like separate but equal ideology to award show season.
However, just because there are color-specific alternatives like the NAACP Image Awards as opposed to the Oscars, and the Soul Train Awards as opposed to the Grammy Awards, does not mean performers of color should be shut out.
I’m sure that actors and singers do not work excessively hard to perfect their craft and deliver their best work possible only to be limited in their accolades. As a well involved honors graduate of my high school, I would have hated for someone to tell me that I couldn’t attend UNC because it is a predominantly white institution. I think hard work and qualifications supersede such an ideal. To put it simply, credit should be given where credit is due, regardless of race, ethnicity or whatever the demographic might be.
We should definitely celebrate Nyong’o’s win and hope this becomes a trend. But for the time being, there is still plenty of progress to be made toward equality in the industry.
