“The Hate U Give” co-stars Amandla Stenberg and Regina Hall have been named among Essence’s 2019 Black Women in Hollywood honorees. The pair will be recognized alongside “If Beale Street Could Talk” breakout KiKi Layne and “Black-ish” actress Jennifer Lewis, Deadline reports.
The stars will be celebrated at the annual Black Women in Hollywood Awards luncheon, which “celebrates the global influence of Hollywood’s leading female artist-activists — both in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes,” the source writes.
“We are proud to salute the marvelous work and stunning achievements of our 2019 Black Women in Hollywood awardees, who as a collective presence are challenging perceptions and impacting social change,” said MoAna Luu, Chief Creative and Content Officer for Essence. “Through their craft and their commitment to causes, Amandla, Jenifer, Kiki, and Regina represent the dynamic intersection of art and activism that is influencing how we shape our own destiny.”
“The Chi” creator Lena Waithe and “Annihilation’s” Tessa Thompson were among last year’s honorees.
An adaptation of Angie Thomas’ best-selling YA novel of the same name, 2018’s “The Hate U Give” is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and sees Stenberg playing a teen who becomes involved in activism after witnessing a police officer shoot her friend. Hall plays Stenberg’s mother in the drama.
“What’s so amazing about Angie’s book was the way in which she was able to capture that pain and anguish that we have within the black community and then turn it into a story that was so compelling and powerful,” Stenberg has said. She continued, “I think [the experience of making ‘The Hate U Give’] opens up a little more room for me in terms of being able to be very selective around how I decide to portray blackness, how I decide to portray black women,” the “Hunger Games” actress explained.
“There were stretches of time where I just didn’t work — which was fine, because I was in school, and that was the most important thing anyway, you know, focusing on my grades. But there were moments where I couldn’t find anything besides ‘daughter of drug dealer’ or ‘hood girl no. 2 who has a fresh mouth’ and it’s supposed to be funny, you know?” Stenberg said. “I didn’t really have interest in doing that, because I don’t want to further perpetuate negative stereotypes around black women.”
Stenberg believes the industry is changing: “Now, within the past few years, I think it’s really beginning to open up. And I think it’s also because I entered an age range in which it becomes easier to find roles, but I think a huge part of it is also that things are shifting in terms of diversity onscreen,” the “Darkest Minds” star observed. “People are getting bored of the same old shit over and over again, and they want to be able to see accurate representations, nuanced representations of black women, of Asian women, of characters who aren’t white and male.”
The Black Women in Hollywood Awards luncheon will take place February 21 in LA.
