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Lena Waithe, Donald Glover Make History at 2017 Emmys in Comedy Categories

Donald Glover won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series as well for his part of Earnest "Earn" Marks in "Atlanta," giving him two awards for the night

Donald Glover and Lena Waithe won their first Emmy Awards at the 69th ceremony Sunday and made comedy history in the process.

With his award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for his show "Atlanta," he became the first black director to win in that category. And Waithe, with her award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for an episode of "Master of None," became the first black woman to win in that category.

Waithe won the award along with co-writer Aziz Ansari.

"Man. Yo, first I want to thank the great algorithm that put us all here," Glover said in his acceptance speech. "I want to thank my parents who are in the audience. This is nuts."

He also thanked his brother, the writers of the FX show and Tokyo-born filmmaker Hiro Murai, who has worked with Glover on music videos. Glover is also known by his music stage name Childish Gambino.

2017 Emmys Red Carpet Arrivals

"He taught me everything about directing," Glover said of Murai. "He had the eye for this show first and we sat down and he is just amazing. I really want to give this to Hiro and say, I love you and thank you for being my best friend and making this with me and I just love everybody out here for letting me be up here so thank you, thank you all."

Waithe's award was for her writing on the episode "Thanksgiving," which was based on her own experience of coming out as a lesbian, NBC News reported.

"The things that make us different, those are our superpowers," she said accepting her Emmy, urging viewers who feel outside of the mainstream to don a superhero cape every day "and go out there and conquer the world. It would not be as beautiful as it is if we weren't in it."

Glover also broke a four-year streak of female directors taking home the award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.

Glover won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series as well, for his part of Earnest "Earn" Marks in "Atlanta," giving him two awards for the night. He received nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

Glover has been acting onscreen since the late '90s. His breakout role came in 2009 when he began playing Troy Barnes on NBC's "Community." He later scored roles in movies such as "The Martian" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and will voice Simba in the new semi-live action reboot of "The Lion King," which is set for release in 2019.

Waithe, who has had a recurring role on "Master of None," is about to launch an autobiographical Showtime series called "The Chi," about her coming of age years in Chicago.

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