Alfre Woodard, Laverne Cox, Nicole Beharie and Danai Gurira Shine on ESSENCE’s October Cover

People are watching television in a different way. I’ve been acting for a very long time and not getting very far, and I would say we needed some sort of systemic revolutionary change for me to have an acting career.

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Alfre adds:

Is it the golden age, daughters? I want you all to believe: We’re not here because somebody suddenly said, ‘Let’s have some women of color [on TV].’ We’re here because we’re brilliant at what we do. We’re persistent. You could put us at the bottom of the ocean and we’d still come to the top.

The issue hits stands Friday, September 5th.

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