The First African American to win a Tony for Leading Actress in a Play was Phylicia Rashad in 2004.
THAT'S RIGHT. 2____0____0____4?! I had no clue. I did more research on African Americans in the category and saw there was also a HUGE gap in which not even one black woman was nominated in that category for 29 years (from '65 to '94). It's vastly different than the other acting categories in which there were winners either in the 1950s or 1960s and nominations fairly consistently since then. (There were, as you may have guessed, years where all the nominees were white.) There are far less nominations in Lead Actor/Actress in a Play categories than Leading Actor/Actress Musical categories. I'm learning so much right now that I very clearly did not know before. Currently delving into the history of wins in all other categories. I feel so blindsided, but grateful that listening to ATW's Downstage Center with Phylicia Rashad made me aware of this. Phylicia said that even she didn't realize she was the first. She found out in the press room right after she had won.
