Names and faces
■ Viola Davis’ best actress Oscar nomination Monday for her work in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” makes her the most-nominated Black actress in the history of the Academy Awards. Davis won the Oscar for supporting actress in 2017 for “Fences,” after being nominated in that category in 2009 for her work in “Doubt.” She has competed for best actress before, in 2012, for playing maid Aibileen Clark in “The Help.” She and actress Octavia Spencer had previously been tied at three nominations each, while Whoopi Goldberg has a supporting actress win for “Ghost” and a best actress nomination for “The Color Purple.” Costume designer Ruth E. Carter was also a three-time nominee, with one historic win for “Black Panther” and nods for “Amistad” and “Malcolm X.” A win would make Davis the only Black woman with multiple Oscars, and just the second Black woman to win a best actress Oscar. Halle Berry was the first to take that category, in 2002, for “Monster’s Ball.” Upping the stakes even higher this year: The best actress nomination of Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”) makes it only the second time that two Black women will compete for that honor. The last time it happened was 48 years ago, in 1973, when Cecily Tyson and Diana Ross were nominated for “Sounder” and “Lady Sings the Blues,” respectively. That year, Liza Minnelli won for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in “Cabaret.”
■ Former Mississippi and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey and others will be honored with Mississippi Humanities Council awards, with a ceremony being held online this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Trethewey, a Gulfport native, will receive the Cora Norman Award in recognition of her literary career. Trethewey, 54, is the author of five poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Native Guard.” She also wrote the nonfiction book, “Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.” She was Poet Laureate of Mississippi from 2012-2016 and served as the 19th US Poet Laureate from 2012-2014. Stuart Rockoff, executive director of the Mississippi Humanities Council, said Trethewey has used her art to “give voice to people who have too often been overlooked, hidden from our traditional narratives,” adding that “Her work is a testament to the power of truth and remembering in coming to terms with the weight of our history,” he said in a news release. The 2021 Public Humanities Awards will be presented March 26 on the Humanities Council’s Facebook and YouTube channels.