Earlier this week, Shonda Rhimes thanked her foremothers while receiving the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award for creating cracks in the glass ceiling so she could get through when the ABC VIP began her career in television.
Selma helmer Ava DuVernay echoed Rhimes’ subtle acknowledgement of the curtailed careers and the wasted creative potential of her antecedents when reacting to her historic Golden Globe nomination for Best Director. DuVernay then looked forward to a future when we could be done talking about “firsts.”
She told USA Today:
“The “first” of it all is the bittersweet part. I’m certainly not the first black woman deserving of this. You can’t tell me that since 1943 there’s not been another black woman who’s made something worthy of this kind of recognition. But for whatever reason it hasn’t happened. The time is now. I thank them for recognizing Selma. I just hope … that we get through all the ‘firsts,’ that we can just get to the good stuff and that people can just make their work and move on from [that conversation].”
READ NEXT: Ava DuVernay Becomes First African American Woman Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe
[via USA Today]
