List of black Academy Award winners

Diana Ross

1972

First African-American actress to receive an Academy Award nomination for a debut film performance.

List of black Academy Award nominees and winners

Period: 1972 to 2016

A list of black actresses who have been nominated and won the Academy Award in leading role.

Whoopi Goldberg

1985

First time multiple African-American actresses received nominations for the same film.

Angela Bassett

1993

Second film to feature African-American nominees for both Best Actor and Best Actress.

Halle Berry

2001

First African-American actress to win Best Actress.
First time two African-American performers won in leading role Oscars in the same year (Denzel Washington, Training Day).

Viola Davis

2011

Third film to feature African-American nominees for both Best Actress and Supporting Actress categories.

Ruth Negga

2016

First black Irish actress to be nominated.
First black African (Ethiopia) actress to be nominated in lead.