Well, we map out the season before it happens. I’ve been very excited about Peggy getting a real love interest and then also dealing with some other complications within that that we don’t get to touch upon as far as colorism and what that means even in dating, which can correspond to present-day times, which is what I love so much about the show. I was excited about Peggy getting to have the opportunity to have a real, full life outside of what’s happening in her environment.
How did you and the other creatives approach developing Elizabeth as an impediment to Peggy’s happiness?
I don’t have to do research, I feel like I live it. We all do as African American people, but Dr. Erica Dunbar, our historian, does the research to fill us in on what it was like during that time. I became a student during the season because we all know about it, we’ve heard about it. My grandmother’s mother was a slave, and so I understand it, but not to that depth, until you read about it more, and it’s put on your plate.
As far as the writing, I have to give all of that praise to Sonja Warfield and Julian Fellowes. What I love about the show is that there are times, especially when you get someone as amazing as Miss Phylicia Rashad coming in, to have so many Black women on the set besides me to help shape Elizabeth. She gets to just be so fun and catty, just like Bertha. She’s like, “This relationship is not right for my son.” It’s grown so much, and you get to see the Black elite world grow in a way that we haven’t seen before. It’s what the fans have been asking for. It’s what people come up to me and ask for all the time.
How important was it to show that Black women in this era were also active in the women’s suffrage movement?
That’s what’s so special about the show, that we can get little tidbits of history with our entertainment. Black women were very involved in getting the vote out and getting it for women, and coming together with other white women to do that. I love the opportunity for people to learn enough about both communities, white and Black, to get the vote out, to get the vote for women, and how important it is now that we keep that vote. This was the 1800s, and people were fighting for this, so it’s even more important now, and it’s amazing how Julian Fellowes and Sonja Warfield can write something so timely, even ahead of time, when you don’t even know that that’s going to be some of the issues we’re having today.