December 2014
Events
- December 25, 2014Ava DuVernay's Selma premieres to critical acclaim
Ava DuVernay's Selma, depicting Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1965 voting rights marches, was released on Christmas Day 2014. DuVernay became the first Black woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Director and the first to direct a film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film was a critical and commercial success that helped inspire renewed activism around voting rights and police violence during the rise of Black Lives Matter.
- December 25, 2014Selma directed by Ava DuVernay becomes first film by Black woman to be Oscar-nominated for Best Picture
Ava DuVernay's dramatic account of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, making DuVernay the first Black woman ever to direct a Best Picture nominee. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
- December 9, 2014J. Cole releases 2014 Forest Hills Drive to platinum sales with no features
J. Cole's fourth studio album, named after his childhood home's address in Fayetteville, North Carolina, debuted at number one and went platinum with no guest features—an extremely rare commercial achievement. The album's introspective themes of Black middle-class life and hometown identity became an unlikely cultural touchstone.