ABC’s hit show, The Bachelor, made a spin-off called The Bachelorette. This show puts the woman, the bachelorette, in the shoes of deciding who to marry from 26 male contestants. This year, the show has decided to do something that they haven’t done yet: have an African American be the lead of the show.

ABC chose Rachel Lindsay, a Texas lawyer, to be their new bachelorette. Lindsay was in the last season of The Bachelor, making it to the finals. Lindsay said, “I’m honored to have this opportunity and to represent myself as an African American woman, and I just hope that people rally behind me like they did in Nick’s season.”

Many people have called into question how there was not a lot of people of different races represented. Now with the new show coming up, there will be hope for that to continue to improve. “Even though I’m an African American woman, it’s not different from any other bachelorette,” reminded Lindsay.

Since Lindsay is going to be the new bachelorette, it opens the door for other races. Linda Holmes, a writer of All Things Considered, said, “So to succeed in this structure as a black person, you have to click — in some hard-to-define way for which nobody is accountable — with a white person who gets to say yes or no to you. That person’s approval is the only path.” This is why people haven’t seen a lot of people that weren’t white becoming the bachelor or bachelorette. Now with this new bachelorette, people will see a change in that cycle.

Gracie Wilson, senior at Pleasant Valley and watcher of The Bachelorette, said, “I think it’s really cool that they chose an African American woman, especially with everything that’s going on in the world today.”

Small steps are being made for this show, and it speaks a lot about what is to come next for ABC. The new season of The Bachelorette is scheduled to premiere on May 22, 2017.