Ruth E. Carter has again made Academy Award history with her victory Sunday night in Best Costume Design for Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Carter became the first Black woman to ever repeat in an Oscar category, winning her first in 2019 for “Black Panther” and the first Black woman to win two Oscars, period.
Carter has a long history with the Academy Awards, first nominated for her work on Spike Lee’s 1992 film “Malcolm X” and again for the costumes in Steven Spielberg’s 1997 film “Amistad.”
During her speech, Carter expressed appreciation for the honor, particularly in light of a recent personal loss.
“Thank you to the Academy for recognizing the superhero that is a Black woman,” Carter said. “She endures, she loves, she overcomes, she is every woman in this film. She is my mother. This past week, Mabel Carter became an ancestor. This film prepared me for this moment. Chadwick, please take care of Mom.”
Chadwick Boseman, star of “Black Panther,” died in 2020. Carter’s mother, she goes on to mention, was 101 years old.
Both Denzel Washington and Mahershala Ali have two Oscar wins each for acting. Washington won in 1990 for “Glory” and 2002 for “Training Day,” while Ali won in 2016 for “Moonlight” and again in 2018 for “Green Book.”
Carter was victorious over fellow nominees Mary Zophres for “Babylon,” Jenny Beavan for “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” Shirley Kurata for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Catherine Martin for “Elvis.”
