Why It Matters That Black Actors Scooped Up Golden Globes This Year

Is this the beginning of the end of #OscarsSoWhite?
|

In the time since the first tweets about #OscarsSoWhite trended at the end of 2015 ahead of the 2016 Academy Awards, it seems the landscape of awards ceremonies is slowly changing to better represent diversity in film and television. This year's Golden Globes proved just how much representation matters, with three wins for black actors on the night.

Open Image Modal
Actress Tracee Ellis Ross holds the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for "Black-ish" during the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., January 8, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Tracee Ellis Ross (for "Black-ish"), Viola Davis (for "Fences") and Donald Glover (for "Atlanta") took home a Golden Globe each, while "Moonlight" and "Atlanta" were awarded best drama and best comedy TV series respectively.

Open Image Modal
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JANUARY 08: Actress Viola Davis arrives at the 18th Annual Post-Golden Globes Party hosted by Warner Bros. Pictures and InStyle at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 8, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic)
FilmMagic

Leading up to the 2017 ceremony, it seemed potentially the record for the highest number of Golden Globes awarded to black people in a single ceremony was set to break, with a number of black nominees in a few of categories. All it would have taken was four winners from the 25 categories to have been awarded Golden Globes to equal the record set in 2007.

Open Image Modal
Donald Glover arrives at the InStyle and Warner Bros. Golden Globes afterparty at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Matt Sayles/AP

As the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag highlighted when it first caught headlines -- in order for there to be more black people taking home awards, there need to be more black people nominated.

According to Mic.com, there "have been 33 years without a single nonwhite winner in Golden Globes history", so to see the likes of Ross, Davis and Glover being acknowledged and awarded for their work is a true victory for black people in the entertainment industry. As the opening act for the annual awards ceremony season, the Golden Globes may have set a new precedent in Hollywood for giving its black filmmakers and actors the credit they rightly deserve.