Double Up: Ruth E. Carter Becomes First Black Two-Time Oscar Winner
Written by djfrosty on March 13, 2023
Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty
On a standout night for the Academy Awards, Ruth E. Carter became the first Black woman to win two Oscars for her work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
At the 95th Academy Awards held on Sunday night (March 12th), the iconic costume designer won the Oscar for Best Costume Design for her work on the smash Black Panther sequel film. After accepting the award from presenters Paul Dano and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Carter began her speech by dedicating the award to her late mother, who she revealed passed away at the age of 101.
“Thank you for recognizing the superhero that is a Black woman. She endures. She loves. She overcomes. She is every woman in this film. She is my mother. This past week Mable Carter became an ancestor. This film prepared me for this moment,” she said.
Carter mentioned the late Chadwick Boseman next, asking him to “please take care” of her mother. She continued, thanking director Ryan Coogler and executive producer Nate Moore: “Thank you both for your vision. Together, we are reshaping how culture is represented.” She would close by thanking those at Marvel Studios and the “many dedicated artists whose hands and hearts helped manifest the costumes of Wakanda and Talokan.”
The win made Carter the first Black woman to win multiple Oscar awards – she previously won for her work on the first Black Panther in 2019. She also became part of a premium category of multiple Academy Award winners in competitive categories who are Black, joining actors Denzel Washington and Mahershala Ali and sound mixers Willie D. Burton and Russell Williams II. The 62-year-old has enjoyed an illustrious career, having been previously nominated for her work on Spike Lee’s Malcolm X and Steven Spielberg’s Amistad.
She reflected on her win and her career to reporters backstage after receiving the award. ” I wanted to be a costume designer,” she began.”I studied. I scraped. I dealt with adversity in the industry that sometimes didn’t look like me and I endured. I feel that this win opens the door for other young costume designers that may not think that this industry is for them and hopefully they’ll see me, and they’ll see my story and they’ll think they can win an Oscar, too.”