Queen Sugar: How Ava DuVernay Elevated Women Directors (With Oprah’s Help)

It wasn’t so long ago that Black family dramas were virtually nonexistent on television—a fact that makes Queen Sugar, now in its final season, an even more extraordinary feat. Based on the novel by Natalie Baszile and adapted for television by Ava DuVernay, the series tells the story of the Bordelon siblings (played by Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, and Kofi Siriboe), who inherit their father’s troubled Louisiana sugarcane farm and face the racism of powerful white landowners as well as their own internal struggles. The show airs on the Oprah Winfrey Network, which has been inseparable from its success. “In… Read Full Article