Kerry’s rocking a full head of curls and a low-cut dress, and is striking a fierce model pose that would make Tyra proud.

Essence states that “the goal of this month’s issue, Race In America, is to create a national dialogue on race that will inform, inspire and empower African-American women.”

Kerry talks to the magazine about her two upcoming movies (”Night Catches Us” and “For Colored Girls”), race, her activist work — and what it means to be Kerry Washington in Hollywood.

She was quoted as saying,

“…I don’t want to ignore my Blackness. I just want to get to the point where my racial identity is simply a part of what makes me unique…”