At the 74th Academy Awards on March 24, 2002, Halle Berry won Best Actress for Monster's Ball, becoming the first African American woman to win the award in the 74 years of the Oscars. In the film she played Leticia Musgrove, whose husband is executed by the state of Georgia and who later begins a relationship with Hank, a prison guard who, unknown to her, oversaw the execution. She won over Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Sissy Spacek and Renée Zellweger.

Berry received a standing ovation and broke down in tears at the podium. "This moment is so much bigger than me," she said, dedicating it to Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll, and to every nameless, faceless woman of color who now had a chance because the door had been opened that night. Her speech ran about three minutes, and she told the audience that it had been 74 years and she had to take the time.

The…