During the press tour for The Color Purple in 2023, actress Taraji P. Henson didn’t hold back. In several panels and interviews, she spoke candidly about the state of being a Black woman in Hollywood. And it’s more harrowing to be a young Black star than you think.

Taraji P. Henson is one of the most recognizable working actresses in Hollywood. But she’s never gotten her flowers. I don’t just mean awards — we know how racially biased those are — but culturally, and in the industry, she isn’t treated with the respect she deserves. If average white actresses can win Oscars (Jamie Lee Curtis I’m looking at you), Henson deserves something higher than an Oscar. After a laundry list of iconic roles like Empire, she’s expressed a sentiment that many Black women in the industry have echoed: the phone doesn’t ring.

Viola Davis, an EGOT winner, had said this before too. After she won her first Oscar nod for Doubt in a show-stealing role alongside Meryl Streep, she was told the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. She didn’t get a single call.

Henson told Sirius XM: “It seems every time I do something, and I break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate, I’m at the bottom again, like I never did what I just did, and I’m just tired. It wears on you.”

From pay inequality to lack of recognition, Henson spilled the tea on it all. Some compared her to our media-untrained queen Renee Rapp, but Hanson’s conversations weren’t spontaneous meanderings off script. After decades in the business, Henson knows how to play the game. As a successful Black actress, I’d argue she knows how to play it better than most. This was something different. Instead of holding her tongue like Black women are expected to, she spoke up. And that’s the energy I’m bringing into 2024.

“I’m tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do, [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost.”

For Black stars, it’s time to throw that graciousness out of the door. Like Angela Bassett losing the Oscar to Jamie Lee Curtis and refusing to smile about it, it’s time to unapologetically celebrate Black performers and their accomplishments.

In the words of Issa Rae, I’m rooting for everybody Black.

Issa Rae – ‘I’m rooting for everybody black’ – Full Emmys Red Carpet interviewyoutu.be

Who are the best young Black actors today?

The culture remembers. While Hollywood may have a short memory for Black achievement, our cultural sense memory survives. It’s why we all know Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, and Angela Bassett are some of the greatest actors of all time. It’s why we don’t sleep on the golden age of Black 90s romance movies, like Love & Basketball, Love Jones, Brown Sugar, and The Best Man.

And it’s why Black performers have been sweeping award shows recently. From Zendaya becoming the youngest Emmy winner for Best Actress in 2021 to Ayo Edebriri, Quinta Brunson, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s triumphant award season, things are looking good — for now.

While things still have a long way to go, from casting to pay disparity and hostile on-set environments, we can support the new generation of Black actors by showing up in droves to support their projects and making sure the industry can’t forget about them.

Oh, to be young, gifted, and Black. It’s a hard-knock life, that’s for sure.

In the spirit of celebrating our wins and spotlighting our community, here are the young (and some upcoming) Black actors in Hollywood to watch. Oscars committee, pay attention: