Costume designer Ruth E. Carter became the first Black woman to win two Oscars on Monday.
Carter won her second Oscar for costume design for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” In 2019, she became the first Black woman to win an Oscar in the category for her work on the first “Black Panther” film.
In her acceptance speech, Carter thanked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for “recognizing this superhero that is a Black woman.”
“She endures, she loves, she overcomes,” said Carter, dressed in a striking goldenrod gown, in an homage to the Black women she’s dressed in her work. “She is every woman in this film. She is my mother.”
Carter told the audience that her mother died earlier in the week at 101.
“This film prepared me for this moment,” she said, and then referenced the late “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020, and asked him to “please take care of mom.”
The acclaimed costumer was previously nominated for Oscars for her work in Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” and Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad.”
Only four other Black Oscar winners have earned multiple statues in competitive categories – actors Denzel Washington and Mahershala Ali and sound mixers Willie D. Burton and Russell Williams II.
