'Bachelorette' Casts Its First Black Lead

Almost a decade and a half after its debut, ABC's dating-reality franchise, which includes The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, has cast its first African-American lead. Rachel Lindsay, a lawyer from Texas, will be the star of the upcoming season of The Bachelorette.

Lindsay is a contestant on the current season of The Bachelor, and the announcement of her involvement in the other series seems to verify that she won't be chosen as the winner in this season's Bachelor competition. Lindsay is not the first African-American contestant on the series, and she won't be the first contestant of color not to be chosen by the Bachelor (no non-white contestant has ever been picked).

She will, however, be the first woman of color to lead The Bachelorette (The Bachelor featured a Hispanic lead in 2013). The franchise has been subject to criticism for its apparent reluctance to cast a black contestant in the lead for either series, making the announcement of Lindsay's casting a landmark for The Bachelorette.

The current season of The Bachelor ends in March. The new season of The Bachelorette begins in May.