The 75th annual Golden Globe Awards honored Oprah Winfrey, Saoirse Ronan, Frances McDormand and a handful of other women with major awards on Jan 7.
Oprah, a well-known talk show host, actress and philanthropist, was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award, being the black woman to receive the award.
She started her acceptance speech with a recollection of her younger self watching Sidney Poitier, the first black actor to receive the award, be honored.
“I’d never seen a black man being celebrated like that,” Oprah said. “And it is not lost on me that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given the same award.”
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Her speech continued to outline her views on the events of the year including moments of standing up and speaking truth. She thanked all the women who confronted abuse and helped make change.
“Speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have,” Oprah said.
She included the story of Recy Taylor, a young black woman who was raped by a group of white men coming home from church and left in silence. Oprah linked this to the “culture of silence” that the world has lived in until the recent years.
“For too long women have not been heard or believed, if they dared to speak the truth,” Oprah said. “But their time is up.”
She ended her speech with the outlook of what the change will bring to the world.
“A new day is on the horizon, and when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight,” Oprah said. “And some pretty phenomenal men fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say ‘me too’ again.”
The audience stood in applause as Oprah left the stage.
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The evening continued with women being honored for their hard work and portrayal in motion pictures and television.
The Best Motion Picture award for drama went to McDormand, the star of “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri”, a film about a caring mother who looks to seek answers for her daughter’s murder with a statement posted on three billboards aimed at the town’s officials.
The Best Motion Picture for musical or comedy went to “Lady Bird,” written and directed by Greta Gerwig. The film follows a daughter and her relationship with her mother, who express themselves in different ways while trying to keep the family afloat.
