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00:00all right those first two panels were incredible anybody else feeling hungry
00:29I am I just downed a bag of chips too all right it is time now you guys are in the right place at the
00:37right time because only Hulu and Disney could bring together so many of our favorite leading
00:43ladies on one stage today all right so black stories always presents leading ladies and let
00:51me tell you this one is a once-in-a-lifetime conversation that we're about to have please
00:56join me in celebrating our amazing group of panelists on behalf of Hulu though we would
01:02like to give each of these amazing actresses flowers giving them their flowers now as a token
01:08of appreciation for their portrayal of groundbreaking characters and for their contributions to our
01:13community and the industry at large so first up from ABC's hit show Grey's Anatomy Chandra Wilson
01:26thank you for inspiring so many future doctors for speaking life into me backstage yes for your
01:47portrayal of a black chief of surgery and the longest-running scripted primetime show on ABC
01:53yes talk lady talk I love it okay next up from FX's upcoming series justified city primeval
02:06ingenue Ellis through your characters you have explored self-liberation in sci-fi the importance
02:14of taking up space as a black woman within dramas and so much more thank you for putting your all
02:22into each of these characters that we have gotten to enjoy thank you
02:27all right from showtimes the shy Yolanda Ross
02:36yes thank you for inspiring the world with your vulnerable and compelling portrayal of the ultimate
02:49struggles of breast cancer being a single mother and finding love again thank you
02:55yes thank you for being a young powerhouse captivating viewers in fan favorite scenes of cruel summer and little fires everywhere
03:24your performances inspire a generation of little black girls across the globe thank you Lexi
03:31from ABC's The Wonder Years Miss Sae Khan Sanglo thank you for showcasing what it means to be a confident mom who puts her family first no matter what with warmth and grace and that voice you share with us all right now thank you for showcasing what it means to be a confident mom who puts her family first
03:49no matter what with warmth and grace and that voice you share with us all you shine so brightly on our screens
03:56all right now from ABC's Abbott Elementary
04:04thank you for being the gift that keeps on giving from beloved mom to educator you have been our matriarch
04:11and a true class act in the industry oh and you look good
04:18all right give it up one more time for our leading ladies
04:25all right give it up one more time for our leading ladies
04:33all right give it up one more time for our leading ladies
04:40get it all out
04:54oh my gosh it is such an honor to be up here with all of you ladies okay so if you look at the breadth of shows
05:15on Hulu's black story always hubs from contemporary to classics you'll see the growth and evolution of black female characters on the screen
05:23let's talk about how your characters Dr. Miranda Bailey Lillian Williams on the wonder years Jada on the shy
05:30Barbara Howard how they have provided the opportunity for viewers to see black women grow and evolve as multi-dimensional characters
05:38Chandra let's start with you
05:40yes hey everybody hey S&K
05:44um yeah actually I think the thing that I appreciate most about being able to play Miranda Bailey for all these years for you guys
05:51is that you've been able to see a woman who started off with ambition and you got to see her in real time achieve the goal that she set for herself and then have time to come up with some new ones afterwards
06:06yes so that's been really important and it's been really important to all the children that are adults now that have seen this face on television and normalize this face and then said oh I can go to medical school because I've seen this face in this position on television so thank you guys for catching on to that and then taking it and running with it
06:33yes Sakan
06:36oh man I first of all hello Essence
06:40I'm so happy to be here
06:42um being able to play Lillian Williams on the wonder years and represent the black family
06:47um to to be able to show an intact black family
06:52where the mother and the father are both present and loving their children
06:57uh focusing on their children's education
07:00and on their all the things that happen in life just living
07:04I think it's just a direct example of how life happens
07:07you gotta go to work
07:09you gotta do all the important things
07:11but you gotta do the little things too
07:13and still find romance
07:14and still take care of your laundry
07:16we show a little bit of everything but I think that's what that's what's important about being on the wonder years and being able to present that the intact black family
07:27the black family the nuance of the black experience
07:30yes
07:31Yolanda how about for you
07:33for me it's important
07:35wait is that can you hear me
07:36yeah
07:37y'all hear me
07:38bring it tight bring it tight
07:39all right all right all right
07:41uh for me playing Jada all these years for y'all it's been so important because
07:48to show a black woman who
07:51has a child
07:53she's not in a relationship
07:55uh what black women go through
07:58because it's not easy we hold it down
08:01that's what I feel Jada has shown
08:03the world that black women hold it down
08:06for everybody
08:08um and we have our own needs
08:11and watching her grow
08:14watching her get through things
08:16watching her go through health battles
08:19it was so amazing to be able to portray that
08:22because you don't always get to see us in those ways
08:26go through those kinds of things that are so important
08:29where black women getting breast cancer
08:32we know it's out there
08:33it happens to so many of us
08:35because so many of us die and are not diagnosed right away
08:39to see somebody go through it
08:41you are not alone
08:43so that alone meant so much to me
08:46Miss Cheryl
08:48whoo
08:49the joy
08:52the joy
08:54that I receive
08:57being able to give life
09:00to Barbara Howard
09:02and the
09:03thank you
09:04thank you
09:05thank you
09:06and the fact that Abbott Elementary
09:08created by young Quinta Brunson
09:12Quinta
09:13is shining the light on education
09:18and educators
09:20in a way where they are not the butt of the joke
09:25but they are the heart of the show
09:29and I'm sure in this hall today
09:32there are hundreds of Barbara Howards walking through here
09:38that teacher that you will never ever forget
09:42because when you didn't believe in yourself
09:45she believed in you
09:48so for all of the Barbara Howards sitting out there
09:53and the future Barbara Howards
09:56you have just got to know
09:58how much we love and appreciate what you do every day
10:04and it is a sacrifice
10:07and I know it from the character that I play
10:10Barbara Howard will live forever on Abbott Elementary
10:15Amen
10:17Amen
10:18Alright, Lexi and Anjanu
10:20I want to bring you guys in
10:21because you occupy some similar spaces in your roles
10:24on Cruel Summer and Justified City Primeval
10:27how do you mentally and physically prepare for your performances
10:32especially in shows that give you the opportunity to really portray the connection
10:36between the black experience and the world at large
10:40Anjanu, I'll start with you
10:41Well, I play a woman named Carolyn Wilder
10:47and she's a defense attorney from Detroit, Michigan
10:50and Justified was a world, a culture that was already established before for years
10:56it was been on television for six years before they did this series
11:00and so for me, one of the things that I have had to say in this, assert in this show
11:06is that I'm not going to, I'll put it like this
11:11even when she's lying down, she's standing up
11:14Uh-huh
11:15Because so many times black women play these roles where they are the love interest or the romantic interest
11:21and they lose themselves
11:23and I refuse to do that
11:25and I think when we are in these shows that really honestly focus white life
11:30that we constantly have to assert our singularity as black women
11:35and that's what I come to work every day doing
11:37Yes
11:38Yeah
11:39Lexi
11:40So I play Isabella LaRue on Cool Summer
11:44and Isabella is an incredibly complex character
11:48as a young black artist, I feel like first of all
11:51the first step when it comes to preparation for a role
11:54is being very deliberate about the role that I choose
11:56because I do know that my representation, me being on screen
12:01when young black girls see me, they also see themselves
12:04and so I want to make sure that, you know, I believe that what we do as artists is a contact sport
12:08I want people to walk away when they view my work feeling mentally or physically or emotionally moved
12:15especially young black girls and so every step of the way I want to make sure that I'm deliberately doing that
12:20when it comes to bringing my characters to life and when it comes to choosing them
12:23Amen
12:24Okay, let's talk about how platforms like Hulu, Onyx Collective and the larger industry
12:32can further promote and support the inclusion of and success of black women
12:38not only in front of the camera but behind the camera
12:41Chandra, I want to start with you
12:43Well, so how many folks out here feel like there was like a wave and everybody was interested in diversity
12:54and everybody was interested and then people got tired
12:58and now people are like, look, we did that and moving on
13:02So, we're in the moving on part of it
13:06What has always been interesting to me about Grey's is that we were a show that started by showing you America
13:18We just showed you what we look like and what we do
13:22and we weren't trying to put a label on it and we weren't trying to shove anything down anybody's throat
13:28When people first fell in love with Grey's they fell in love with the fact that they felt at home when they were watching it
13:35and they knew that doctor and they knew that person, they knew that patient
13:39That's something that their mother went through
13:42It's about familiarity
13:44When you're familiar with people and people that don't look like you and you realize how much you have in common
13:50Then you don't have to label things all the time
13:54It's like, thank God for the labels because we have to uplift things
13:58But I'm just trying to show you and anybody that doesn't look like us that
14:04Look, we're all related up in here somewhere
14:07And we can take the best and the worst of us, right?
14:12This whole big mix and blend and make a world where we tolerate each other even if we don't understand everything
14:21I think Grey's has historically been able to do that
14:24And ABC has given us space to be able to continue to
14:30They've never asked us to change the way we tell story
14:34And I appreciate them for that
14:37Yolanda, what do you think?
14:38How can these platforms continue to promote the inclusion and success of black women in front of and behind the camera?
14:45I feel, you know, these platforms and then the people that put out the shows on these platforms
14:52Like, you know, Lena is who put our show out
14:55And having black directors, you know, black showrunners
15:00It makes a difference so that the, you know, the stories are, they're coming from home
15:06You know, so the specificity is there
15:09And we recognize that
15:11I think it's very important to have these platforms
15:13Because it's like Chandra said
15:15That, you know, there's that time, there's that wave
15:17And then it's like, oh, well we did that
15:19Yeah
15:20Aha, thank you
15:21It's real
15:22It's real
15:23It's very real
15:24I really hope that in this time people don't forget
15:27And I'm so happy that we have ABC that sees it
15:31That an affirmative action is always necessary
15:36When it comes to us in all of our shapes and sizes
15:41And what we do in front of the camera, behind the camera
15:46Do not let us go because some folks get weary
15:50That some of us know that we must stay woke
15:54Stay, come on now
15:56Stay aware
15:58We must wake up
16:00Because, like it or not, we are here
16:04We are going to stay
16:06And we're happy that we're on a station
16:08That right now is able to say
16:11Come on through the many doors that we have under this umbrella
16:17Let us not forget we need an affirmative action
16:22Thank you
16:23Amen
16:25Alright, we are out of time
16:27We have gotten to celebrate these leading ladies
16:30We have given them their flowers
16:31But, it's time to all get in on a photo op
16:35Yes
16:36Angeneal, we need to take a selfie
16:38All of us
16:39Audience do
16:40Say, Angeneal
16:42Angeneal
16:43Thank you so much for having us
16:44This was amazing
16:45Thank you for being here
16:46So wonderful to see all your beautiful faces
16:48You guys get towards the front of the stage
16:50And I'm going to try to make this work
16:57Yeah
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