- Carter in her Speech to Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “for recognising this superhero that is a Black Woman”. “She endures, she loves, she overcomes”
- To Chadwick Boseman “She is my mother, please take care of mom”.
- “I hope this opens the door for others… that they can win an Oscar too” … Carter to women of color.
Ruth. E. Carter at the age of 62 broke history on the 12th of March, 2023 to become the first African American woman to win 2 Oscars at the 95th Academy Awards held at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Carter who is an American costume designer for film and television won her first Oscar for Best Costume Designer for Black Panther (2018) and her Second Oscar for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). In her 30 years plus career, Carter has 40 films credited to her. They include: Malcom X (1992), Selma (2014), Four Brothers (2005), Chi-Raq (2015), The Butler (2013), Being Mary Jane, Dolemite is my name (2019), Coming 2 America (2021). Carter has also designed costumes for Chadwick Boseman, Eddie Murphy, Angela Basset, Forest Whittaker, Denzel Washington and Oprah Winfrey.
Carter was born April 10, 1960 in Springfield, Massachuetts. She and her seven siblings were raised by her single mum. Carter was inspired by her mum who was a designer and a seamstress. In her homage to Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who died after fighting colon cancer for four years… “she is my mother. Chadwick, please take care of mom”. Carter had an early start in her career as an intern at Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Hampton University. She later moved to New York where she earned an Associate Degree in Fashion Design in the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.
In her Acceptance Speech she thanked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “for recognising this superhero that is a Black woman. She endures, she loves, she overcomes. I pulled myself up from my boot straps, I started in a single parent household. I wanted to be a costume designer. I scraped, I dealt with adversity in the industry that sometimes didn’t look like me and I endured. So, I feel that this win opens the door for other young costume designers that may not that this industry is for them and hopefully they’ll see me and they’ll see my story and they’ll think that they can win an Oscar too”.
She also addressed women of color “… I hope this opens the door for others,… that they can win an Oscar too”. Coincidentally, Michelle Yeoh who is a Malaysian at the age of 60 became the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress. In her speech, “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is a proof that dreams… dream big… and dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you, you’re ever past your prime. Never give up”.
Carter who is a Afrofuturist stated that “I would have to represent images of beauty, forms of beauty from the African tribal traditions so that African – Americans could understand it, so that (non-black) Americans can understand African – Americans better; so, we could start erasing a homogenized version of Africa.
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