In the almost 100-year history of the Oscars, ten Black women have won an acting award. Only one of those was for Best Actress (Halle Berry in 2002), with the rest going to supporting actresses. Only seven women have been nominated for Best Director, with only three of them winning (Kathryn Bigelow in 2010, Chloé Zhao in 2021, Jane Campion in 2022). Of those seven, Chloé Zhao is the only woman of color. Additionally, a Black woman has never been nominated in the Best Director category. These numbers are abysmal, despite an increased frequency in both nominations and wins for women as of late.
The 2017 Oscars saw hints of improvement in the nomination of Black women in major acting categories. Ruth Negga was nominated for Best Actress for her role in Loving. Additionally, Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures), Naomie Harris (Moonlight), and Viola Davis (Fences) were nominated for Best Supporting Actress, with Davis taking home the trophy. But one year is not enough. These sorts of trends need to continue every year, instead of appearing like a fluke. Honoring Black women in film is not and should not be a rare occurrence.
The 2023 Oscar nominations only served as a setback in any previous hints of progress. No women were nominated in the Best Director category and Angela Bassett is the only Black woman to score a nomination in a major acting category for her work in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The Woman King, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Viola Davis, received no nominations. It was expected to do well and had already been nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. On top of that, Till star Danielle Deadwyler was snubbed in the Best Actress category. Instead, nominations were given to Ana De Armas (despite Blonde being a highly controversial film) and Andrea Riseborough due to a grassroots campaign that sparked investigations from the Academy.
However, rather than coming after other women in these categories, we must look toward the Academy, who oversees nominations. This (largely white) group is built upon racist ideologies that have been part of the media industry for as long as it has existed. A couple years of nominations and winners including more people of color doesn’t fix these deep-rooted issues. Representation is not a trend to follow when it’s a popular topic of discussion only to drop once you think people aren’t paying attention. If real change is to occur, the innate ideologies these people operate within need to be rewritten. At this point, no matter how much the Academy tries to appear as if it has evolved, no real changes are being made as we see instances like that of the 2023 nominations still occurring.