As it appears, we received one more day to celebrate Black History month and on this day, nearly 85 years ago, Hattie McDaniel cemented herself in the history books by becoming the first Black person to ever win an Oscar.
Taking place at the 12 annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles, McDaniel took home the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as “Mammy” in the 1939 film, “Gone With the Wind.” She starred in the film opposite Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. While her role as a servant woman was met mostly with positivity, some Black folks had mixed feelings about her win as they felt Hollywood only had an interest in awarding Black actors if they played in subservient, stereotypical roles and not anything more expansive and representative. This sentiment was also exacerbated due to the social climate at the time, which began to see the rise in the fight for civil rights amongst African-Americans.
Yet and still, history was made and it was a joyous and humbling occasion for McDaniel.
“This is one of the happiest moments of my life and I want to thank each one of you who had a part in selecting me for one of the awards,” she said in her acceptance speech. “For your kindness, it has made me feel very, very humble. And I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything that I may be able to do in the future. I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry. My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel and may I say thank you.”
Since then, there have been only a handful of Black actresses who have secured the coveted award, specifically in the Best Supporting Actress category. Those include women like: Mo’Nique (“Precious”), Jennifer Hudson (“Dreamgirls”), Viola Davis (“Fences”), Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years a Slave”), Whoopi Goldberg (“Ghost”), Octavia Spencer ( “The Help”), Regina King ( “If Beale Street Could Talk”), and Ariana Debose (“West Side Story”). Halle Berry remains the only Black woman to win for Best Actress.