In Marc Forster's 2001 drama Monster's Ball, Halle Berry plays Leticia Musgrove, a woman at the end of her rope. Her husband is convicted of murder and executed by the state of Georgia at the beginning of the film. Leticia tries to get her life back together when her son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun) is hit by a car and dies. Letitia can only find solace in the arms of a gruff prison warden named Hank (Billy Bob Thornton). whose own son (Heath Ledger) recently died by suicide. What Leticia doesn't know, however, is that Hank oversaw her husband's execution. It's all very complicated, but handled tactfully and with the utmost sensitivity. Monster's Ball is a pretty great movie.

Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Letitia at the 2002 Academy Awards, beating out Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Sissy Spacek and Renee Zellweger. Her victory was well deserved.

She was only the seventh black woman to be nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards. Previous nominees include Dorothy Dandridge (for Carmen Jones in 1954), Diana Ross (for Lady Sings the Blues in 1972), Seeley Tyson (for Sounder, also in 1972), Diahann Carroll (for " Claudine" in 1974), Whoopi Goldberg (for "The Color Purple" in 1985), and Angela Bassett (for "What's Love Got to Do With It?" in 1993). Barry was also the first to actually win the category. It was a banner moment for black women everywhere, and "finally!" moment for the Academy.

Another significant record was broken that year. Because Denzel Washington won Best Actor for his controversial role in Antoine Fuqua's Training Day, The 2002 Oscars marked the first time black actors won both top acting awards on the same night.

However, since Berry won, no other black woman has won in the Best Actress Oscar category. Since 2002, only six additional black women have even been nominated (one of them twice), but none of them took home a statuette. Barry still holds the record.

Since 2002, the following six black women have been named Best Actress. Gabourey Sidibe was nominated in 2009 for playing the title role in Lee Daniels' Overrated. Viola Davis has been nominated twice, in 2011 for The Help and in 2020 for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. In 2012, eight-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis was nominated for Beasts of the Southern Wild, and she holds the record as the youngest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Ruth Negga was nominated in 2016 for her performance in Loving, and Cynthia Erivo was nominated in 2019 for her role as Harriet Tubman in Harriet.

Andra Day was recently nominated for her role as Billie Holiday in Daniels' United States vs. Billie Holiday. By the way, Diana Ross' 1972 nomination was also for playing Billie Holiday.

The Academy's Best Supporting Actress category has had more nominations for black women, a total of 29 since 1939. Hattie McDaniel famously won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Gone With the Wind, and many Hollywood history buffs know that she was only allowed to build as a special favor; the Ambassador Hotel where the Oscar ceremony was held was a separate venue. McDaniel was unable to join her white co-stars for the after-party as it was also held at a separate venue.

Seven black women have been nominated for Best Supporting Actress since McDaniel, but none won until Goldberg in 1990 for her performance in Ghost. It "only" took 50 years.

However, since 2004, 19 films have had performances by black women nominated, and eight of those women have won. recently, Da'Vine Joy Randolph won an Oscar for her role as Mary in 2023's The Holdovers. Danielle Brooks was nominated the same year for her role as Sophia in The Color Purple. By the way, Oprah Winfrey was nominated for the same role in the 1985 film version of The Color Purple.