It took over 70 years for a black woman to win the award for Best Actress at the Oscars, and in the 15+ years since Halle Berry won that distinction with the academy's recognition of her performance in Monster's Ball (2001), there hasn't been another. In a recent interview with Teen Vogue, Berry processes what it has been like feeling at the time as though she had helped achieve progress, only to watch as a total of four of the seventy-five women who've been nominated for the award since then, have been Black.

"I sat there and I thought, 'Wow, that moment really meant nothing,' Berry told the publication. "It meant nothing. I thought it meant something but I think it meant nothing. And I was profoundly hurt by that, and saddened by that."

While five Black actresses, including Jennifer Hudson, Mo'Nique, Octavia Spencer, Lupita Nyong'o and Viola Davis have won for Best Supporting Actress since 2002, Berry, like many Black thespians, hasn't had much reason to celebrate diversity in Hollywood because there arguably still hasn't been much of any. In fact, many will point to years 2015 and 2016 and how no stars of color were so much as nominated in a major acting category, to make the case that diversity has rescinded over the past several years. And despite 2017 marking hope for a turning point by accounting for the most black winners of any Academy Awards show to date, there remains a long road ahead.

Throughout history, there has been a total of seven black winners in the Best Supporting Actress category, and five black men who've won Best Supporting Actor. And balancing out Berry as the sole black Best Actress, are Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Forest Whitaker, who make up the four Best Actors who've been black.

Because of the grave racial disparity, Berry no longer rests her hopes on the academy to take initiative in forwarding inclusion and diversity. Rather, she looks to do her part in putting that responsibility on her own back, she says. "It inspired me to get involved in other ways, which is why I want to start directing, I want to start producing more," she told Teen Vogue. "I want to start being a part of making more opportunities for people of color."

Source: nydailynews.com