Black Women in Film & TV: A Year-End Review

Photo Credit: Laura Alston for Okayplayer

Ava, Issa, Lena, Tiffany were just some of black women in film & TV that shone as bright lights during this garbage fire of a year.

I wouldn’t blame you if the first phrase that came to mind when describing 2017 was “garbage fire”. Between the president colluding with foreign agents (allegedly!); Flint still not having clean water, Puerto Rico still not having power, the FCC voting to end net neutrality, the absurd word ban at the CDC, and story after story after story of men in entertainment and journalism sexually assaulting, abusing, and bullying women (and other men), it is hard not to feel exhausted and drained as this year comes to a close.

But even in the midst of all of this foolishness, there have been several bright moments. And when things are this bad, turning to the arts can offer solace and also motivation to keep fighting for what you know to be right. And it is not surprising that it’s black women leading the way in providing those bright moments.

Here are just a few that we noticed as we say goodbye to 2017 and hello to 2018.

Source: Netflix

Dee Rees

With the November release of Mudbound, her sprawling epic film tracing the lives of two families, one black, one white, in post-WWII Mississippi, there has been talk that Rees could very well be the first black woman nominated for a Best Director Academy Award—and it would be richly deserved.

Photo Credit: ARRAY Now

Ava DuVernay

I have often wondered just how the heck Ava DuVernay gets any sleep given how busy she is. In addition to racking up four Emmys for her film about mass incarceration, 13th, she also collected a BAFTA, produced a second season of the absorbing family drama Queen Sugar on OWN, announced she will be making a series about the Central Park Five, and is wrapping up post-production on her adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time— which marks her as the first black woman filmmaker to helm a movie with a $100 million budget. DuVernay’s energy is inspiring and I cannot wait to see her vision on the big and small screens in 2018.

Source: YouTube

Tiffany Haddish

2017 was the Year of Haddish. She starred in the critically and commercially successful Girls Trip, made history as the first black woman stand-up comic to host Saturday Night Live, cemented herself as the best storyteller on the late night talk show circuit, taped a comedy special for Showtime (Netflix, it’s your move now!) and released a book. She’s also set to produce and star in The Oath, a satirical thriller also starring John Cho and if there is any kind of justice in the world, they will be love interests.

Source: Comedy Central

Gabourey Sidibe

Starring in a hit TV show (Empire), writing and releasing a bestselling memoir (This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare), and making your directorial debut (the short film Tale of Four) all in one year? That’s just light work for the multi-hyphenate talent Gabourey Sidibe—who is also an Academy Award-nominated actress, in case you forgot.

Source: YouTube

Gabrielle Union

Gabrielle Union also released a book this year, We’re Going To Need More Wine, and also spoke up for victims of sexual assault—particularly women of color and more specifically, black women. Too often, black women’s cries for help as well as their advocacy go unnoticed and ignored in a way the cries of their white peers are not. Union, who is a survivor herself and has been an advocate for 20 years, joins a long succession of black women who continue to do the necessary work of looking out for the most vulnerable amongst us, even if they don’t necessarily receive credit or attention. And for that, I salute her.

Photo Credit: Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP

Tracy Oliver

Tracy Oliver is the screenwriter of Girls Trip, the most successful comedy released in 2017, which was a bawdy and effervescent look at black women friendship over the course of a weekend at Essence Fest. The movie made a breakout star out of Tiffany Haddish and made me realize I will never, ever, look at a grapefruit the same way again.

Source: BET

Robin Thede

The world of late-night TV has a cookie cutter quality to it, doesn’t it? Insert white guy in a dark suit, put him behind an oak desk, make sure he has a band led by a black guy to bestow said white guy with some hipness, rinse-wash-repeat. So it’s been a pleasant surprise to see Robin Thede—who was the head writer at The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore—host her own late-night show: The Rundown, which airs on BET. Thede’s smart, sharp humor and her perspective as a black woman living in America is just what we need as she breaks down the good, the bad, and the ugly in the worlds of politics and pop culture.

Photo Credit: IMDb

Aisha Hinds

Aisha Hinds has been grinding in Hollywood for a long time and making a name for herself in roles on numerous TV shows. In 2017, though, she made a splash when she played none other than freedom fighter Harriet Tubman on the WGN show Underground. In the episode “Minty” (based on Tubman’s childhood nickname, as she was born Araminta Ross), Hinds delivers a searing, one-hour long monologue where she talks about her lifelong devotion to freeing herself and others. It is a remarkable hour of television that looks and feels like nothing else that was released in 2017.

Source: Twitter

Stella Meghie

The Toronto-born filmmaker was one of the very few black women directors to have a major theatrical release this year with Everything Everything. The film, starring Amandla Stenberg and based on the bestselling YA novel by Nicole Yoon, is about a teenage girl who must stay indoors 24/7 because she is allergic to everything. Or is she? Stella Meghie also directed the comedy-drama Jean of the Joneses, which aired on TV One in 2016.

Source: Netflix

DeWanda Wise

DeWanda Wise had a banner year in 2017, as she played pivotal roles in three TV shows—Underground, Shots Fired on Fox, and She’s Gotta Have It on Netflix, in which she starred as Nola Darling in Spike Lee’s reboot of his 1986 classic film. While the material left us wanting, Wise was nevertheless a compelling presence on screen.

Source: FreeForm

Yara Shahidi

Yara Shahidi has to be one of the most accomplished 17-year-olds in Hollywood (or anywhere.) She went from starring in one successful show (Black-ish) to her own spin- off, Grown-ish, where we follow her character of Zoey Johnson to college. It could end up being A Different World for a whole new generation. And she was also accepted to Harvard and will start attending classes in 2018, where she’ll be in the same class as Malia Obama. #BlackExcellence.

Source: Essence

Regina King

Regina King continues to make big moves behind and in front of the camera. This year King directed an episode of the smash NBC hit This is Us, tracking the Pearson siblings through their tumultuous 20s. She also directed an episode of Shameless on Showtime and appeared in episodes of The Leftovers and Big Bang Theory. And next year, she’ll be one of the stars of Barry Jenkins’ film adaptation of the classic James Baldwin novel If Beale Street Could Talk.

Source: HBO

Issa Rae

And of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge Issa Rae’s year of yasss. She started and ended the year with a Golden Globe nomination for best actress on her hit show Insecure. And the second season of the show had everyone’s Twitter fingers in a flurry every Sunday this past summer, debating whether they were #TeamIssa or part of the #LawrenceHive. Rae also landed a Cover Girl gig, plus is in talks to write a buddy comedy starring Lupita Nyong’o and Rihanna – the movie collectively pitched by #BlackTwitter.

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Danielle A. Scruggs is a Chicago-based photographer and writer who runs the website Black Women Directors and is also the Director of Photography at the Chicago Reader, an award-winning alt-weekly newspaper. Follow her on Twitter at @dascruggs and view her site at daniellescruggs.com.