Courtesy of OWN
The Mayor of New Orleans is acknowledging Queen Sugar and its contributions to the city. Mayor LaToya Cantrell has made July 20 Queen Sugar Day in New Orleans.
Folks behind the scenes have made sure local residents have been heavily involved in the production of Queen Sugar. New Orleans residents have worked on the set during the production of the OWN series throughout its past six seasons. Mayor Cantrell also acknowledged how Ava DuVernay, who created the show, has been dedicated to hiring women to serve as directors for the entire series. Besides July 20 being deemed Queen Sugar Day, Ava DuVernay was gifted the key to the city.
“Since 2016, Queen Sugar has captured the beauty of Black families, Black love, Black history, Black land ownership and Black culture,” Mayor Cantrell said in a statement. “Not only did this series celebrate the hard work and tenacity of African American landowners and business owners of the Greater New Orleans area, but Ms. DuVernay also completely revolutionized the television industry by exclusively hiring women directors for all 88 episodes of the series’ run. The City is grateful to Ms. DuVernay, ARRAY, OWN, Warner Bros. and the entire cast and crew for empowering, uplifting, and amplifying our people’s voices throughout its seven seasons. We are honored to have our city’s rich history recognized on national television and look forward to hosting Ms. DuVernay and the ARRAY team in our city for many more years to come.”
Carroll Morton, Director of Film New Orleans, also acknowledged DuVernay as “a trailblazer who has created a pathway for women and people of color to succeed in an industry that has historically provided limited opportunities for underrepresented people.”
The final season of Queen Sugar will premiere in September on OWN. This will be the show’s final season. Stay tuned!
