Academy Awards speeches are supposed to be quick, but the ones people remember do more than say thanks. For Black winners, the podium has often doubled as a rare global microphone where joy, pressure, and history show up at the same time.
These speeches span eras. Hattie McDaniel navigating a segregated industry, Sidney Poitier modeling dignity and gratitude, and power duo Halle Berry and Denzel Washington both winning lead acting Oscars on the same night. Past that, winners across acting, writing, and the crafts have used the moment to name ancestors, credit mentors, and argue for the value of Black stories.
Below lies 15 of those standout acceptance speeches from Black talent, presented in no particular order.
1. Jordan Peele (2018) — Best Original Screenplay, Get Out
Peele framed his win as proof that an idea can survive long enough to reach an audience if you keep working at it. “I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible,” he said, then credited the people who “raised” his voice and helped the film get made.
2. Hattie McDaniel (1940) — Best Supporting Actress, Gone with the Wind
McDaniel’s historic first came with a visible burden: She had to represent more than herself in a space that still excluded Black artists. Her closing line captured that reality: “I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry.”
3. Daniel Kaluuya (2021) — Best Supporting Actor, Judas and the Black Messiah
Kaluuya kept it simple and human, treating the night like a reminder to appreciate being here at all. “We got to celebrate life, man. We’re breathing. We’re walking. It’s incredible,” he said, bringing a grounded, grateful energy to the room.
4. Halle Berry (2002) — Best Actress, Monster’s Ball
Berry positioned her win as a collective moment, not a solo breakthrough. “This moment is so much bigger than me,” she said, then dedicated it to the women who came before her, naming trailblazers like Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, and Diahann Carroll.
5. Sidney Poitier (1964) — Best Actor, Lilies of the Field
As the first Black man to win Best Actor, Poitier delivered a speech built on calm gratitude. “Because it is a long journey to this moment, I am naturally indebted to countless numbers of people,” he said, then named collaborators, centering craft, community, and composure.
6. Ruth E. Carter (2019) — Best Costume Design, Black Panther
Carter used a craft-category win to make a cultural point about representation and design. “Thank you for honoring African royalty and the empowered way women can look and lead on screen,” she said, linking Wakanda’s visual impact to pride, history, and intention.
7. Viola Davis (2017) — Best Supporting Actress, Fences
Davis turned her win into a mission statement about storytelling. “There’s one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered… and that’s the graveyard,” she said, urging artists to “Exhume those stories” so overlooked lives and dreams do not disappear.
8. Spike Lee (2019) — Best Adapted Screenplay, BlacKkKlansman
Lee made the connection between art and civic life explicit. “Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing!” he said, using the Oscar stage as a call for political engagement. It was a fitting extension of a film centered on organized racism.
9. Lupita Nyong’o (2014) — Best Supporting Actress, 12 Years a Slave
Nyong’o closed with a line that reached beyond the room to anyone watching at home. “When I look down at this golden statue,” she said, “may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from your dreams are valid.”
10. Denzel Washington (2002) — Best Actor, Training Day
Washington used his moment to honor Sidney Poitier, who received an honorary Oscar that same night. “I’ll always be chasing you, Sidney. I’ll always be following in your footsteps. There’s nothing I would rather do, sir,” he said—making legacy the center of his speech.
11. Octavia Spencer (2012) — Best Supporting Actress, The Help
Spencer opened with humor to break through nerves and emotion. “Thank you, Academy, for putting me with the hottest guy in the room,” she joked, nodding to presenter Christian Bale. The laugh landed, but the emotional win also crowned a long climb from small roles to Oscar night.
12. Regina King (2019) — Best Supporting Actress, If Beale Street Could Talk
King’s speech focused on the kind of support that makes a career possible. “Thank you for teaching me that God has always been leaning in my direction,” she told her mother, grounding a major industry moment in family, faith, and an unusually personal sense of gratitude.
13. Mahershala Ali (2017) — Best Supporting Actor, Moonlight
Ali centered humility and service — fitting for a film about care and survival. “It’s not about you. It’s about these characters,” he said, adding that an actor is “in service to these stories and these characters,” a reminder that the work should stay bigger than the spotlight.
14. Mo’Nique (2010) — Best Supporting Actress, Precious
Mo’Nique opened by naming an industry truth that many people think but rarely say onstage. “I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics,” she said, then also shouted out Hattie McDaniel for enduring what came earlier.
15. Whoopi Goldberg (1991) — Best Supporting Actress, Ghost
Goldberg’s win was a mainstream breakthrough, and her speech captured the mix of shock, joy, and gratitude that makes Oscar moments last. She thanked the people who backed her and made it clear she understood the magnitude of the achievement. “I come from New York. As a little kid I lived in the projects. And you're the people I watched,” she expressed.