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I read that someone called last night’s broadcast of The Academy Awards, one of the Blackest shows they’ve seen in a while. I didn’t watch the show so I can’t attest to that. I do know that Daniel Kaluyya won best supporting actor for his role in Judas and the Messiah. H.E.R. walked away with a golden statue and there was even a moment where Glenn Close shouted out Spike Lee and even treated us to her version of E.U.’s “Da Butt” dance.
Still, there was a particularly hurtful snub in that Chadwick Boseman didn’t win best supporting actor for his last role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
I don’t know that the Oscars will ever be the vehicle to fully represent and celebrate Black talent. So I don’t look to it for that.
Still, Black folks have a way of shining in spaces that were never even designed for us. And that’s what we saw last night as Mia Neal took the stage to accept her award for best makeup and hairstyling for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, alongside Jamika Wilson.
As we reported earlier, Neal and Wilson cracked a glass ceiling as they became the first Black women nominated for hair and makeup. With the nomination alone, Neal was already thinking about the future. She told Variety, the nomination was important because women who look like her “can raise the bar now. You can be recognized in this way as well.”
And then last night, they shattered it as Don Cheadle called their names to accept the award.
In the two minute speech, Neal, who spoke for both herself and Wilson, decided to honor not only the ancestors but she shouted out the women of all colors who will follow in her footsteps.
It was a powerful moment.
Read the transcript and see what she say below.
Mia Neal: I was raised by my grandfather James Holland. He was an original Tuskeegee Airman. He represented the U.S. in the first Pan Am games, he went to Argentina. He met Evita. He graduated from Northwestern University at a time when they did not allow Blacks to stay on campus so he stayed at the YMCA.
And after all of his accomplishments, he went back to his hometown in hopes of becoming a teacher. But they did not hire Blacks in the school system. So I want to say thank you to our ancestors who put the work in, were denied by never gave up.
And I also stand here, as Jamila and I break this glass ceiling, with so much excitement for the future. Because I can picture Black trans women standing up here and Asian sister and our Latina sisters and Indigenous women. And I know that one day it won’t be unusual or groundbreaking, it will just be normal.”
Mia Neal concluded her speech thanking the Academy, Denzel Washington, Viola Davis and the spirit of Ma Rainey.
