A Very Brief History Of Black Women On 'Saturday Night Live'

Initially an uncredited extra on the series, Hudson was the first Black female cast member on the show. She officially joined SNL and became a featured player during the show’s sixth season (1980-1981). Hudson was one of many fired at the end of the season but still appeared in a few sketches as an extra. It seems she left show business completely after her stint on SNL, with her only other credit on IMDB listed as a production assistant for 1985’s Motown Returns to the Apollo.

Vance was the first Black woman to become a repertory player on Saturday Night Live in 1985. And though she was not publicly out, it is believed Vance was also one of the show’s first lesbian actors. Despite being criminally underused, Vance was applauded for her work on the sketches series in a 1984 Village Voice review that celebrated her ability to undermine stereotypes and create “unsettling tension among stereotypes, reality, and the conditions that create stereotypes.” Comedian and writer Marina Franklin told Vulture during an interview, “Even though it seemed like she was unhappy with the roles that she was doing on the show — because they were just all these stereotypical roles — no one else was doing them the way she was doing them at the time.” After SNL, Vance went on to appear in Sticky Fingers, The War of the Roses and Little Man Tate. Vance also earned an Obie and NAACP Image Award for her performance in the off-Broadway play Spunk. Sadly, Vance passed away in 1994 following a battle with breast cancer. Per her request, her funeral was held at an amusement park where friends and family took part in the park’s games.

Cleghorne was the first Black female cast member to stay on the series for more than one season, appearing on SNL from 1991-1995. She tackled a number of celebrity impressions and would sometimes appear as Afrocentric social critic Queen Shenequa and NBC page Zoraida. During an interview with Slate, she opened up about diversity on the series and also revealed that she was the first Black female cast member with a contract, “If you read, or do research, they didn’t used to give Black people contracts on SNL. That was cold-blooded. They didn’t even give them credit. The credits roll, your name’s not even on there. That was a joke because that’s how you got residuals.” Cleghorne has since become a recognizable face to anyone obsessed with comedy. She had her own series in 1995, Cleghorne!, that featured SNL alum Garrett Morris, and appeared in Little Nicky, Grown Ups 2, and Second Act.

Rudolph may arguably be the most recognizable Black woman from Saturday Night Live. Like Cleghorne, there wasn’t an impression Rudolph couldn’t do and fans loved her as one-half of “Bronx Beat duo Jodi Deitz and Betty Caruso (Amy Poehler). She opened up to The New York Times Magazine in 2018 about how being a mixed-race actress has affected her career, including struggles with her hair that would play out on behind the scenes at Studio 8H. “My hair was natural when I started Saturday Night Live, but it was so thick to get under the wigs,” she added that the hair department was in the same area as the men’s fitting rooms and that “every [expletive] Friday night, we’d hear some [expletive] white guy walking down the hall going, ‘Is something burning in here? What’s burning?’” Despite those moments, Rudolph added that she had an overall great experience on the show. The actress has since had her own show with Martin Short, Maya & Marty, and starred in Forever, Big Mouth, The Good Place, and Big Hero 6: The Series.

Zamata joined the series alongside Leslie Jones in 2014 before quietly leaving in 2017. During a panel hosted by New York Magazine‘s The Cut, Zamata revealed that her decision to leave came after years of trying to figure out if the job was right for her. “It was not what I thought it was going to be, and I don’t think anyone really thinks it’s going to be that way because it’s not like any other job. it was a couple years of figuring out, ‘Am I OK with this?’ Do I want to just accept it as is and be like, ‘That’s just a job and I guess I’ll just stay and take it like everybody else?’ Or do I want to try something else that makes me feel really good and work with people who excite me and who are excited about me and want to create things that make us feel fulfilled?” She’s since moved on to other cool work, starring in Stella Meghie’s upcoming The Weekend, landing a role in Coming 2 America, and recently completing a new comedy pilot for Hulu’s Woke.

As previously stated, Jones announced last week she would be leaving Saturday Night Live. On Tuesday, she Tweeted her appreciation for the series and the cast, adding “I know you will be as excited as I am when you see some of the amazing projects and adventures that I have coming up very soon! Love you all!! #iamnotdeadjustgraduating.” According to IMDB, Jones has three projects in the works including Coming 2 America, Queenpins, and I Am Maurice.

Ego Nwodim is now the only Black woman on the series. Nwodim joined SNL last year and has been showing audiences her incredible range. Jones’s departure from the series will likely be tough for every cast member on the show and possibly even harder for Nwodim who called Jones a “mentor” and “cheerleader” in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Prior to joining SNL, Nwodim appeared in K.C. Undercover, It’s A Party, and 2 Broke Girls.