Oprah Winfrey highlights Time’s Up in Golden Globes speech

Empowerment for women, a recurring theme throughout Sunday night’s 75th annual Golden Globes, hit its peak moment when Oprah Winfrey received a standing ovation for her speech as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Winfrey, 63, the first black woman to receive the award, opened by recalling the moment in 1964 when she was inspired by watching Sidney Poitier become the first African American to win a best actor Oscar on television, and how she hoped that she might inspire girls watching her accept her award. From there, she addressed Hollywood’s sexual misconduct scandal and remarked that “speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.”

Oprah also paid tribute to Recy Taylor, an African-American sharecropper in Alabama who was raped by six white men in 1944. One of the activists from the NAACP sent to investigate the case was Rosa Parks. Despite pressure to prosecute the accused rapists, the case never was brought to trial. Taylor died on Dec. 28.

“For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men,” Winfrey said. “But their time is up. Their time is up.”

She concluded: “I want all the girls watching here now to know that a new day is on the horizon. And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight.”

Hollywood’s most powerful women — and men as well — donned black for the ceremony to make a statement against sexual harassment in Hollywood and other industries. In addition, a number of actresses strolled down the red carpet with prominent women’s rights activists who were invited in support of the Time’s Up initiative.