--- description: "The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity." title: Viola Davis Just Made History With Her Emmy Win image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00664df4c0414a4b/6988647dcd1bba0df86fd41a/viola-davis-emmy-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [awards](/tag/awards/) ## awards Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Viola Davis Just Became the First Black Woman to Win the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Sep 21, 2015 3:02 AM CUT  Viola Davis accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for How to Get Away With Murder at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 20, 2015 in Los Angeles. Viola Davis accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for How to Get Away With Murder at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 20, 2015 in Los Angeles.Phil McCarten—Invision/Television Academy/AP  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Sep 21, 2015 3:02 AM CUT Viola Davis made history at the Emmys on Sunday night when she became the first African-American woman to [win](http://time.com/4041876/emmys-2015-winners-full-list/ "undefined") an Emmy for best actress in a drama series. In a moving speech, the _How to Get Away With Murder_ actress began by quoting Harriet Tubman: --- > “” --- Davis went on to thank the show’s executive producer Shonda Rhimes for diversifying television as well as other actresses breaking boundaries on TV, including her fellow nominee Taraji P. Henson. “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity,” she concluded. “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4042100/emmys-2015-viola-davis-win/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4042100/emmys-2015-viola-davis-win/"},"headline":"Viola Davis Just Became the First Black Woman to Win the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series","datePublished":"2015-09-21T03:02:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:06:02.302Z","description":"\"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.\"","url":"https://time.com/4042100/emmys-2015-viola-davis-win/","keywords":["awards","Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00664df4c0414a4b/6988647dcd1bba0df86fd41a/viola-davis-emmy-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00664df4c0414a4b/6988647dcd1bba0df86fd41a/viola-davis-emmy-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Viola Davis - Emmy 2015","caption":"Viola Davis - Emmy 2015","creditText":"Phil McCarten—Invision/Television Academy/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/awards/","name":"awards"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4042100/emmys-2015-viola-davis-win/","name":"Viola Davis Just Became the First Black Woman to Win the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series"}}]}] ```