"When I was in college, first starting out as an actor, they asked each one of us what we wanted to do. I said, 'I want to be the best actor in the world.' All the students in the classroom looked at me like I was a nut."

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Halle Berry won the Oscar for Best Actress in 2002 for her role in Monster's Ball, becoming the first Black woman to receive the award. "This moment is so much bigger than me," Berry said in her emotional acceptance speech. "This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It's for the women that stand beside me: Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox. And it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."

Basketball legend Kobe Bryant won an Oscar for his animated short film Dear Basketball, which he wrote and narrated. He became the first professional athlete to win an Oscar. "As basketball players, we're really supposed to shut up and dribble, but I'm glad we do a little bit more than that," Bryant said in his acceptance speech. "To my wife Vanessa, our daughters Natalia, Gianna, and Bianca, ti amo con tutto mio cuore. You are my inspiration."

"Oh my god. Just I have to just take this moment in. I cannot believe this," Jennifer Hudson said after winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Dreamgirls. "If my grandmother was here to see me now. She was my biggest inspiration for everything because she was a singer and she had the passion for it, but she never had the chance. And that was the thing that pushed me forward to continue." You can watch her full speech here.

Daniel Kaluuya won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of activist and Black Panther Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah. "How blessed we are that we lived in a lifetime where he existed, do you understand?" Kaluuya said of Hampton in his speech. "He was on this earth for 21 years, 21 years, and he found a way to feed kids breakfast, educate kids, give free medical care, against all the odds. He, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, the Black Panther Party — they showed me how to love myself. And with that love, they overflowed it to the Black community and to other communities. And they showed us that the power of union, the power of unity, that when they play divide and conquer, we say unite and ascend." You can watch the full speech here.

Viola Davis won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Fences, a film adapted from August Wilson's play of the same name. "You know, there's one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered. One place. And that's the graveyard [...] I say, exhume those bodies. Exhume those stories. The stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition. People who fell in love and lost," she said in her acceptance speech. "I became an artist, and thank god I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life. So here's to August Wilson, who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people."

Four-piece R&B group En Vogue took home a Billboard Music Award for #1 R&B single for their song "Hold On" in 1990 — and sang their acceptance speech. You can hear the fully arranged masterpiece here.

Lupita Nyong'o won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 12 Years a Slave. "It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's. And so I want to salute the spirit of Patsey for her guidance," she said as she accepted the award. "When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you're from, your dreams are valid." You can watch her full speech here.

"When I was a kid, the only way that I saw movies was from the backseat of my family's car at the drive-in, and it wasn't my reality to think I would be acting in movies," Forest Whitaker said upon receiving the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in The Last King of Scotland. He went on: "So receiving this honor tonight tells me that it's possible, it is possible for a kid from East Texas, raised in South Central LA, in Carson, who believes in his dreams, commits himself to them with his heart, to touch them and to have them happen." You can watch the full thing here.

Ariana DeBose won the Oscar for portraying Anita in West Side Story and recognized her character in her acceptance speech. "Now you see why that Anita says, 'I want to be in America.' Because even in this weary world that we live in, dreams do come true. And that's really a heartening thing right now." She went on: "So, lastly, imagine this little girl in the backseat of a white Ford Focus. Look into her eyes. You see a queer, openly queer, woman of color, an Afro-Latina, who found her strength in life through art. And that's what I believe we're here to celebrate. So, to anybody who has ever questioned your identity [...] I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us." You can watch the full speech here.

It's hard to imagine a world without Jordan Peele's Get Out, but that was almost the case. "I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible. I thought it wasn't gonna work. I thought no one would ever make this movie," Peele said in his acceptance speech for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. "But I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone let me make this movie, that people would hear it, and people would see it. So, I want to dedicate this to all the people who raised my voice and let me make this movie."

Hattie McDaniel broke down an incredible barrier in 1940, when she became the first Black Oscar winner for her role in Gone With the Wind. "This is one of the happiest moments of my life," she said during her acceptance speech. "I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry. My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel. And may I say thank you and God bless you." You can watch her full speech here.

Beyoncé won the 2017 GRAMMY Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album for her landmark record Lemonade. "Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to beautifully capture the profundity of deep southern culture," she said in her acceptance speech. "My intention for the film and album was to create a body of work that will give a voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness, and our history to confront issues that make us uncomfortable. It's important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror, first through their own families, as well as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House, and the GRAMMYs and see themselves and have no doubt that they're beautiful, intelligent, and capable. This is something I want for every child of every race."

Black Panther costume designer Ruth Carter became the first Black nominee and winner of the Oscar for Best Costume Design in 2018, then repeated her win in 2022 for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. "Wow. Wow. I got it. Wow. This has been a long time coming," she said in her first acceptance speech. "Marvel may have created the first Black superhero, but through costume design, we turned him into an African king. [...] Thank you for honoring African royalty and the empowered way women can look and lead on screen." You can watch her full speech here.

Spike Lee took the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2019 for his film BlacKkKlansmen, which follows a Black detective attempting to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan. "Our ancestors worked the land from can't-see-in-the-morning to can't-see-at-night. My grandmother, Zimmie Shelton Retha, who lived to be 100 years young, who was a Spelman College graduate even though her mother was a slave," he said in his speech. Then he turned toward the future: "The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Let's all mobilize. Let's all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate."

Denzel Washington honored Sidney Poitier when he won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Training Day. Poitier was the first Black actor to win that same award in 1963, and was in attendance for Washington's win. "I'll always be chasing you, Sidney. I'll always be following in your footsteps. There’s nothing I would rather do, sir," Washington said in his acceptance speech. He also said, "When I was in college, first starting out as an actor, they asked each one of us what we wanted to do. I said, 'I want to be the best actor in the world.' All the students in the classroom looked at me like I was a nut. Life has taught me to just try and be the best that I can be. And I thank the Academy for saying to me that on this given night, I was the best that I could be." You can watch the full thing here.

Finally, in 1991, Whoopi Goldberg received an Oscar for her iconic role in Ghost. "Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted this," she said in her acceptance speech. "I come from New York. As a little kid, I lived in the projects, and you're the people I watched. You're the people [who] made me want to be an actor. I'm so proud to be here. I'm proud to be an actor, and I'm gonna keep on acting." You can watch the full speech here.