Viola Davis earns coveted EGOT

Explore Our Galleries

An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Some Exhibits to Come – One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

Bibliography – One Hundred Years Of Jim Crow

Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.

Freedom’s Heroes During Jim Crow: Flossie Bailey and the Deeters

Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.

An Iconic Lynching in the North

Claxton Dekle – Prosperous Farmer, Husband & Father of Two

Ancient manuscripts about mathematics and astronomy from Timbuktu, Mali

Some Exhibits to Come – African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles for Adults & Children from the Henrietta Marie

Some Exhibits to Come – The Middle Passage

What I Saw Aboard a Slave Ship in 1829

Life After Hate: A Former White Power Leader Redeems Himself

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Click Here

Ways to Support ABHM?

Click Here

February 5, 2023

By Char Adams, NBC News

Viola Davis accepts her reward — Viola Davis accepts the award for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording for “Finding Me: A Memoir” at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on February 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Viola Davis has earned the rare and coveted EGOT status — becoming the third Black woman in history to achieve the honor.

On Sunday, Davis, 57, won her first Grammy for her performance of the audiobook for her memoir, “Finding Me.”

“It has just been such a journey,” Davis said in accepting the award. “I just EGOT!”

“EGOT” is the grand slam of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony over a career. Only 18 people have achieved the status. Davis is the fourth Black person, alongside Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend and Jennifer Hudson.

Read about Davis’ response.

Davis was also recently in the news for her role in The Woman King.

ABHM’s breaking news page has more Black culture articles.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.