The New And Diverse Faces Of This Year's Academy Awards Give Us The Hopeful Sense Of Unity We've All Been Waiting For

Following two rough years of topical Twitter tensions, it looks like the Academy has finally decided to move on from its #OscarsSoWhite streak, and is honoring six black actors in this year's 89th Academy Awards, setting a new record and including diverse films such as “Moonlight,” “Fences” and “Hidden Figures” in the Best Picture category. The timing, too, couldn't possibly be better, with political tensions running high and the nation divided more than ever, this year's Oscar nominations come as a truly welcome breath of fresh air.

Featuring 7 non-white nominees tying 2007's record and smashing another, 2017 looks like a good year for diversity already, but we're not stopping there. 2017 is actually the first year in which black actors were nominated in every acting category. Pretty sweet, huh?

Well, we're nowhere near done yet. It would seem that this year is a particularly good year not only for black films and actors, but minorities as a whole, and it's certainly one filled with a whole lot of firsts!

Woah! That IS a whole lot of firsts alright, and perhaps some are more surprising than others, but what does this positive change say about us, as a society? Are we becoming more inclusive? More curious? Are we surprised by the fact that this year is the first year that a black artist is nominated for three major Oscars (Barry Jenkins, Moonlight) or that Dev Patel is the first Indian actor to be nominated for his work in Lion in 13 years?

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Or perhaps we've all collectively reached a cultural point at which we all decided to stand up together, starting a conversation about diversity and equality in the arts, and someone finally listened. New Academy rules added a greater diversity of voters in terms of ethnicity, gender and age in an effort to combat #OscarsSoWhite and 638 new members were added to the Academy last year.

This may not seem like a big deal, but some would argue that this is actually a pretty proud moment in Hollywood's, and certainly in America's history.

But the credit for the rising number of diverse nominees this year must go mainly to the films and actors themselves. While non-white movies such as Straight Outta Compton and Creed did pretty well at the box office last year, 2016 seemed to contain a more Oscar-friendly group of contenders.

Last year’s group of Oscar hopefuls included no black actors with previous nominations, except for Will Smith, whose film Concussion was met with mixed reviews, but unlike the previous year, some of this year's actors will actually have a chance to take home an Oscar. Loving’s Ruth Negga and Moonlight‘s Mahershala Ali have both been nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

So which of these films will achieve full Oscar glory at the 89th Academy Awards? Predict the big winners by voting here!