Emmys 2017 was a historic night for women and people of colour

Donald Glover, Riz Ahmed, and Master of None's Lena Waithe all helped make the night one to surely inspire

Beyond celebrating the innovative and unique television that is currently populating the landscape, 2017's Emmys became quite the historic event.

It was a night of firsts and broken records; ones which honoured, in particular, the often ignored contributions of women and people of colour. Donald Glover became the first black winner of the award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, while Master of None's Lena Waithe became the first black woman to win the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

Taking to the stage with co-writer Aziz Ansari, Waithe stated: "My LGBQTIA family, I see each and every one of you. The things that make us different, those are our superpowers. Every day, when you walk out the door and put on your imaginary cape and go out there and conquer the world, because the world would not be as beautiful as it is if we weren't in it... thank you for embracing a little Indian boy from South Carolina and a little queer black girl from the south side of Chicago."

RIz Ahmed became the first man of Asian descent to win an acting Emmy, after his win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for The Night Of.

"I want to say it is always strange reaping the rewards of a story based on real world suffering," Ahmed said in his acceptance speech. "But if this show has shown a light on some of the prejudice in our societies, xenophobia, some of the injustice in our justice system, then maybe that is something." He also thanked South Asian Youth Action and The Innocence Project for helping him prepare.

Elsewhere, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series the sixth time in a row for Veep, smashing not only Candice Bergen's record of the most Emmys for a singular role, but tying her now with Cloris Leachman's record eight Emmys wins by a singular performer.

The Handmaid's Tale director Reed Morano also became the first woman to win the award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series in 22 years, while This Is Us' Sterling K. Brown became the first black man to win Outstanding Lead Actor In a Drama in 19 years.

You can read the full list of Emmy winners here.

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