Viola Davis Omamy Awards Acceptance Speech
Parallels Between Viola Davis’ Emmy Award Acceptance Speech and the Experiences of Jacqueline Royster When It Comes to Racism and Sexism
On the evening of September 20th, 2015 at the sixty-seventh annual Primetime Emmy Awards, Viola Davis, lead actress of How to Get Away With Murder, portraying Annalise King, became the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.” While many people, men and women of all colors included, praised Davis for her award and the encouraging speech she gave in the wake of receiving it, others bashed and criticized her. Jaqueline Royster, too has experienced boundaries and has become accustomed to the unspoken rules of how one should do things in order to be seen a
certain way especially as a Black woman. The parallels of Davis’ speech aftermath and the experiences of Royster when coming into contact with those outside of Black ethnicity are strikingly similar and opens up discussion as to whether the experiences of female people of color truly are different than those of other genders and racial groups.
On the evening of September 20th, 2015 at the sixty-seventh annual Primetime Emmy Awards, Viola Davis, lead actress of How to Get Away With Murder, portraying Annalise King, became the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.” While many people, men and women of all colors included, praised Davis for her award and the encouraging speech she gave in the wake of receiving it, others bashed and criticized her. Jaqueline Royster, too has experienced boundaries and has become accustomed to the unspoken rules of how one should do things in order to be seen a
certain way especially as a Black woman. The parallels of Davis’ speech aftermath and the experiences of Royster when coming into contact with those outside of Black ethnicity are strikingly similar and opens up discussion as to whether the experiences of female people of color truly are different than those of other genders and racial groups.