It Was All About Hidden Figures And Fences At The 48th NAACP Image Awards

It was all about Hidden Figures and Fences at the 48th NAACP Image Awards, with the #BlackGirlMagic movie, Hidden Figures the BIG winner.  The historical movie about the black female NASA mathematicians who helped propel the first man into space scored two awards, including outstanding motion picture and outstanding actress in a motion picture for Taraji P. Henson during Saturday’s portion of the awards, which was broadcast on TV One. 

During her acceptance speech, Henson shared with the audience how she never focused on math in school because it was understood that STEM fields were “for the boys.”

“There are roles you accept that scare you. And this one did because I failed math,”  said Henson, who also won the award for outstanding actress in a drama series for her work on Fox’s “Empire.”  “I made it my mission to do this film. This film was very important. It was bigger than me.”

Denzel Washington won for his role of Troy Maxson in Fences, and his acceptance speech was truly one for the books.

“Keep working, keep striving,” he said. “Fall down seven times, get up eight. Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship. So keep moving, keep growing, keep learning. See you at work.”

For a bit of housekeeping, Denzel’s  Fences co-star Viola Davis won for Outstanding Supporting Actress which was presented at the non-televised gala on Friday night.

OWN’s “Queen Sugar” won the award for outstanding drama series, while “This Is Us” star Sterling K. Brown nabbed the award for outstanding actor in a drama series.

The big winner in television was “black-ish,” which took home six awards overall, including outstanding comedy series, outstanding actor in a comedy series for Anderson — who shushed the audience’s raucous applause by saying, “Stop it, you’re taking up my time!” — and outstanding actress in a comedy series for Tracee Ellis Ross.

Check out some of our favorite red carpet arrivals:

Scandal star, Kerry Washington never disappoints on the carpet.

Underground star, Jurnee Smollett Bell on the carpet.  WGN just released an extended trailer for the highly anticipated season 2 of the breakout series.

Actress, Gabourey Sidibe looks beautiful in the print gown.

Hidden Figures star Taraji P. Henson giving us major leg on the carpet, and we’re also loving that high ponytail.