February 2017

Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book became the first streaming-only album to win a Grammy Award, taking home Best Rap Album and two other awards. Chance had released the album independently for free, challenging the music industry's commercial model and demonstrating that Black artists could build major careers outside traditional label structures.

Jordan Peele's directorial debut Get Out, released February 24, 2017, used the horror genre to explore the terror of anti-Black racism in liberal white America. Made on a $4.5 million budget, it grossed over $255 million worldwide and earned Peele the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay — making him the first Black screenwriter to win that award for his debut film. The film is widely studied as a cultural and artistic landmark.

Jordan Peele's debut feature Get Out grossed over $255 million worldwide on a $4.5 million budget, making it the most profitable debut for a Black writer-director in Hollywood history. Peele became the first Black writer to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the film sparked a critical genre of socially conscious Black horror.

Barry Jenkins's film about a young gay Black man in Miami won the Academy Award for Best Picture after a dramatic envelope mix-up on stage. Moonlight was the first LGBTQ film and the first film with an all-Black cast to win Best Picture, and Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor, becoming the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar.

Barry Jenkins's film about a young gay Black man in Miami won the Academy Award for Best Picture after a dramatic envelope mix-up on stage. Moonlight was the first LGBTQ film and the first film with an all-Black cast to win Best Picture, and Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor, becoming the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar.

Barry Jenkins's film becomes the first with an all-Black cast to win Best Picture.